I always avoid getting all political, but this time I can't avoid. With all this mess involving Ukraine and Russia, is clear Putin is insane. It looks like he wants to bring the Soviet Union back, and now because of that son of a bitch we have the threat of a nuclear war. Even here in Brazil, we have many people tense and with fear from what future will bring. I hope this situation ends soon and the Ukrainian people stay strong against this and others threats.

Good luck, for all of us.

It was very clear to everyone at the College of Winterhold that Urag gro-Shub took his job very seriously. The Arcanaeum was his "own little plane of Oblivion", as himself likes to say, and he was it's Prince. No one, not even the Archmage, takes a book from here without his knowledge, something the newest appendices yet have to learn. As always, he was checking and cataloging the place's books, heavily angry once he saw the names of stolen books from the College. He would have to do something to retrieve those books, and soon.

He is taken away from his thoughts once he hears a great number of footsteps behind him, and only by the sounds he can tell they're not members from the College, as he can clearly hear clanking noises, typical of the heavy armors. Turning around, the Orc mage keeps his normal, unfriendly expression while checking the group of people, and he immediately remembers all of them from weeks ago, when the same group came to the college searching for information about a Moth Priest.

The Orc lies himself on his counter. "What do you want again?"

Nerevar stands in front of everyone. Since he joined the group after Sofia's death, and always when Vardall was away, he acted as the group's leader. It was the most logical choice, given he had more experience than all of them combined, nt to mention everyone there, with no exceptions, respected and admired Nerevar because of what he did to stop Dagoth Ur, Hircine and Almalexia. With all of that, it was natural he was the group's "second in command".

"Hello again." Nerevar tries to be polite with Urag, but it was clear by his face he wasn't in the mood for unnecessary talking. After having noticed that, Nerevar decides to go straight to the point. "Alright. We're looking for an Elder Scroll, mainly information on where to find one."

The Orc raises an eyebrow. "This has to do with the Moth Priest all of you came here asking weeks ago?"

Nerevar nods and confirms his words. Urag grunts. "I'll bring everything we have on the Scrolls, but it's not much. So don't get your hopes up. It's mostly lies, leavened with rumor and conjecture." So the Orc exits for a moment, leaving the group alone.

While they're waiting, Lucien crosses his arms, seeming lost in thoughts. Nerevar notices that. "What's bothering you?"

Lucien blinks. "Nothing, is just... I've been thinking about when Dexion mentioned Auriel's Bow while reading the Scroll." The Imperial earned the attention of everyone. "This information, together with the fact that the vampires were searching relentlessly for Dexion and the Elder Scroll makes me safe to assume the bow is an important piece of this prophecy Serana's father is trying to do."

Arissa raises her eyebrows. "History never was my strong point. What can you tell us about this bow?"

Lucien starts to explain: "Auriel's Bow was a weapon created by Auriel, or Auri-El, chief of most Aldmeri pantheons. Is said that Auri-El used the bow, together with a shield he also created, in a war against the armies of Lorkhan after he, together with others, was deceived into helping create Mundus."

After Lucien finishes, Nerevar then tells a fact that surprised most of them: "I already had Auriel's Bow in my hands, during my days in Morrowind. But given that archery never was my strongest point, I gave the Bow to a museum. I really thought it was destroyed during the Red Year."

Lydia crosses her arms. "Just one more thing that I think may be important... Every soul in Tamriel already heard at least once all that talk about Auri-El and Akatosh being the same entity. The thing is: they really are? I know this sounds like a random question, but..."

Arissa interrupts Lydia: "Vardall, right?" That was all the rogue needed to say.

The Nord Housecarl nods. Both she and Arissa turned to Lucien and Nerevar for answers, given they knew plenty more about that subject than they both.

"Well..." Lucien scratches the back of his head. "That is a bit of a complicated subject, because there are many ramifications and interpretations about that."

Nerevar starts talking after him. "Some believe Auri-El and Akatosh are indeed the same being, while others say they're very similar, but two different beings. There's also the talk about a ritual the Marukhati Selective did to separate Auri-El from Akatosh. Like Lucien said, there are many ramifications about this."

"I was just thinking if Auri-El and Akatosh are indeed the same, and we end up having to find that bow, what that will mean to Vardall." Lydia mused.

The group keeps arguing about that for a few more times. They only stop when Urag returns, carrying some books with him.

The Orc dropped the books upon his counter. "Here we go. All of you, try not to spill anything on them."

Returning to their main objective, all four companions go to the books and grab one of them and start reading, seeking information about the Scrolls. When Arissa started reading her hook, it didn't take too long before she realized something was wrong.

The rogue narrows her eyebrows. "This 'Ruminations' book is incomprehensible." She shows the book to Urag.

The Orc takes the book in his hands. "Aye, that's the work of Septimus Signus. He's the world's master of the nature of Elder Scrolls, but... well. He's been gone for a long while. Too long." The entire group pays attention while Urag talks.

"He's dead?" Lucien asks.

The Orc mage shakes his head. "Oh no. I hope not. But even I haven't seen him in years, and we were close. He became obsessed with the Dwemer. Took off north saying he had found some old artifact. Haven't seen him since. Only heard he made some type of outpost in the ice fields. Look there if you want to try to find him."

"Guess we need to look there, then." Nerevar comments, looking back to Urag. "Thank you for your help."

Finally free from that, Urag simply grunts and retreats, returning to working on his previous task of checking all the Arcanaeum's books.

On his side, Nerevar can hear Lucien grunting. "It had to be on the ice fields? I love Skyrim's cold, but if Winterhold seems unbearable to me, what can I say about the ice fields?"

Lydia crosses her arms. "I don't like this either, but we need to search that place for this Septimus Signus."

"Let's just try not to fall on those literally freezing waters." Arissa comments. "I'm already telling you that I'm not gonna swim to rescue anyone."

Nerevar then remembers something. "We could also use this chance to check something on those ice fields."

With those words, he earned the group's attention. "What?" Lydia asks.

"Something me and Vardall learned at the Shrine of Azura." He says. "I'll explain on the way."

Still curious, everyone agreed, then they made their way out of the College, stopping at the local inn and buying the thickest furs and cloaks they could find as a way to at least make the temperature more supportable. Covered now with furs from their head to toes, the group starts walking in the direction of the ice fields. But while they exit Winterhold until the fields, Nerevar and the others didn't notice a group of Thalmor soldiers, being led by a female Justiciar, were watching them, all of them also covered with furs and cloaks all around.

"There they are. Just like our other agents told us." Altmer comments. "We should capture and interrogate them, but if our information is correct, the artifact is located somewhere on the ice fields, and it looks like they may be heading to that place now." She then commands the soldiers: "Let's follow them from quite far away, using the storm to our advantage to cover ourselves. Once we confirm the artifact's location, we can act and retrieve it to the Dominion."

# # # # # #

Back at Castle Volkihar, after Vardall, Serana, Inigo and Bran discovered a secret passage beneath the moondial, they all discovered even more ruins from the castle. Ruins that even Serana didn't even know existed.

"I've never even seen this part of the castle before." Serana mused. "Be careful. I don't know what might be around."

While advancing, Vardall keeps looking at his surroundings. "You truly never knew about this place?" He asks Serana.

She shakes her head. "I had always just assumed that the other tower was completely destroyed inside." She returned to observe the place. "My mother kept this a secret, even from me. She must have been up to something she thought was dangerous."

Talking about danger, while they kept walking and proceeding within these ruins, they're surprised by even more gargoyles there.

"More of those things?!" Inigo yells while taking his sword. Together with the gargoyle, there were more of the undeads they fought against, manly skeletons. However, neither the gargoyle or the undeads were a match for them, and they quickly took care of the enemies.

"More gargoyles... You said it wasn't typical of your mother to keep those things around, right?" Vardall asks while returning the Black Star to his back.

Serana nods. "Yes. Even her having a bit of a thing for magical constructs, I don't remember her keeping them down here."

Vardall blinks. "A... 'thing' for magical constructs?" He narrows his eyebrows and looks back to Serana.

"Not what you're thinking." Serana quickly talks. "She just found them very fascinating."

Now he widens his eyes. "Oh, right." Now he had quite a blush on his face, but soon giggled. "Then I think if she saw the golems of Thedas, she would go crazy."

Now it was time for Serana to giggle and smile. "Given all you told me about them and how they're made, probably."

"Too bad I don't have Shale with us. It would be funny to watch her trying to study him." Vardall takes a moment to think of his golem friend. He hopes he's doing fine in Tevinter and that discovers a way to finally return to being a dwarf.

But nonetheless, they continued to explore those ruins, almost finding a dead end, but managing to proceed through a secret passage Inigo had found. Proceeding only a little further, the group find themselves into what looked like a gigantic laboratory at the end. Many bookshelves are around all the place, together with tables and shelves full from the most variate types of alchemical ingredients. On the place's ground was a strange circle, that neither of them knew its purpose.

Serana almost didn't believe in that. "Look at this place. This has to be it! 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 turned her attention to the strange circle on the ground. "And what's this thing? I'm not sure about this circle, but it's obviously... something."

"Let's try not to step on this thing and activate a trap, or something similar." Inigo commented. It was very clear most of the way he was quite uncomfortable from being in a place like this. He had quite some traumas regarding similar places.

Vardall looks around for a few more seconds. "Your mother maintained quite a laboratory." He was truly impressed, even similar places from the Circle of Magi weren't quite equipped like this.

"I had no idea that her laboratory even existed." Serana says. "She had an alchemy setup in her drawing room, but nothing that even comes close to what's here. Looking at the equipment and materials, it looks like she was trying to advance her necromancy."

"To what end?" He asks. "I mean, certainly not longevity. Kind of a waste of time for a vampire, am I right?"

Serana agrees, remembering something. "My mother used to keep a small journal with her all the time. Let's take a look around. If we find, maybe tell us where she's gone."

Vardall and Inigo agree, the group splitting up to find Valerica's journal. During the search, Serana was more focused on looking around all that place than actually finding the journal, which Vardall noticed and didn't blame her. She just discovered a big secret regarding her mother, so it was natural she was curious. While the vampire and the Dragonborn were searching in one part of the laboratory, Inigo was together with Bran searching in some bookshelves, until he found a hidden and small, red book that called his attention. He takes it and reads, smiling once he realizes that's what they're looking for.

"My friends!" Inigo calls Serana and Vardall's attention. "I found it!"

"Great job, Inigo." Vardall congratulates his friend once he gets close to him, Serana right behind. He takes Valerica's journal and reads for a moment, getting real curious once he reads about a place called "Soul Cairn".

After that, he passes the journal to Serana. "What's this 'Soul Cairn' that your mother mentions?"

Serana flips through the pages. The Soul Cairn is a tiny sliver of Oblivion, the realm of the daedra. It's ruled by unseen beings known as the Ideal Masters." Vardall hears every one of her words. "I remember my mother 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."

Vardall raises an eyebrow. "Soul gems? Like Azura's Star?" He asks, while taking the daedric artifact into his hands.

Serana shakes her head a little. "I don't think so. She said they were specially black soul gems, and like I said, that was only a theory."

Inigo looks at Serana. "You said your mother was perhaps trying to advance her necromancy. I'm not very used to magic, but a plane of Oblivion where souls perhaps went sounds like something it would interest a necromancer."

"Inigo is right." Vardall crosses his arms. "I know necromancers from Thedas would kill to have something like that - This was an unintentional joke." He blinked and reflected for a moment.

Serana agrees. "You're both right. 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."

"Well..." Vardall cracks his neck. "If she made it there, we'll find her."

The vampire smiles, then turns her head to that strange circle on the ground. "That circle in the center of the room is definitely some type of portal." She takes one more look into her mother's journal. "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?" Inigo asked.

"A handful of soul gem shards, some finely-ground bone meal, a good bit of purified void salts, and... her blood." Serana says all the components they need to have.

Vardall takes a good look around Valerica's laboratory. "I bet your mother had plenty of those ingredients here, and you share her blood, so any of that shall be a problem."

Serana nods. "My thoughts exactly. I already saw some of those ingredients while searching for my mother's journal. Let's grab them and open that portal."

The group spread again and searched for all the ingredients and components they needed to go to Soul Cairn. Serana grabbed those she already knew where it was, Vardall searched and grabbed others, while Bran and Inigo found the last one.

Once they had everything, they placed all ingredients inside a vessel to open the portal.

"You three are ready to go?" She asks Vardall, Inigo and Bran. "I'm not entirely sure what this thing is going to do when I add my blood."

Vardall opened his mouth to talk, but didn't say anything. There's something he wanted to ask Serana and felt now was his last chance to do it. "Can I ask you something first?"

Serana agrees. "Of course. What is it?"

Vardall nods, before asking: "What will you do if we find your mother?"

She sighs a little. "I've been asking myself the same thing since we came back to the castle. She was so sure of what we did to my father, I couldn't help but go along with her. I never thought of the cost."

The Dragonborn gave her a comprehensive stare. "Don't get me wrong, but it sounds like she was being quite selfish."

"I think you're right." Serana mused. "She was practically smirking as we left home. Almost like she was proud of herself. Like she didn't want to just stop my father... she wanted to stick it to him, too. Almost looking like she didn't even care for me sometimes."

Vardall felt sorry for Serana, he really did. He knew very well how people could be selfish and even forgot about their loved ones. He already was like that once.

"I'm sorry." He says. "But we'll not know until we find her."

She considers his words for a moment. "Yes... yes, you're right. I'm sorry. I just didn't expect anyone to care how I felt about her. Thank you." Serana then smiles. A smile Vardall immediately retrieves. "Are we ready then?"

He agrees. "Let's do this."

"All right. Here goes..." Serana cuts her own wrist, dropping her own blood inside the vessel together with all the other ingredients. After some seconds, it looked like it worked, and the circle on the ground started moving, his parts forming a type of stairs to a bright light.

"By the blood of my ancestors... She actually did it..." Serana was astonished. "She created a portal to the Soul Cairn. Incredible."

"It's truly impressive." Inigo says.

"Okay, let's go." Vardall comments. "I'll go first." He then walks to the portal's direction, approaching more and more. But when he's close enough, Vardall suddenly feels like his entire body is burning, making him grunt in pain.

"Vardall!" Serana widened her eyes and quickly pulled Vardall away from the portal and back to them. Bran also tried to help, but Inigo stopped him with fear the Husky could suffer. "That looks painful. Are you alright?"

Vardall deeply breathes for a moment, retrieving his energies. "It was. Felt like when I did the Grey Warden's joining. What the fuck happened?"

Serana thinks for a moment, finally realizing what went wrong. She sighs. "I'm sorry, I should have expected that."

"What happened?" Inigo asked, also very worried about his friend.

"It's hard to describe. The Soul Cairn is... well, hungry, for lack of a better word. It was trying to take Vardall's life essence as payment."

"Then what do we do? There must be a way for me to enter Soul Cairn." Vardall questions Serana. The vampire thinks for a moment, dodging her eyes from them once she reaches her conclusion.

"There might be, but I don't think you're going to like it." She says. "Vampires aren't counted among the living. I could probably go through there without a problem."

Vardall looked to her, feeling where this was going to take. "So... the only way I can enter that place is by becoming a vampire." He thinks for a moment. "There has to be another way."

"Maybe. We could just 'pay the toll'." Vardall looks back to Serana. "It wants a soul, so we give it a soul. Yours."

"Ehh... I don't think you know, but I need a soul to live." Vardall said, joking.

"My mother taught me a trick or two." She starts saying. "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."

Vardall sighs. "Those are my only options?"

Serana sadly nods. "I'm sorry. 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."

Vardall then suddenly feels Serana's hand above his own. It was an unintentional move by her or not, it doesn't matter. Vardall liked that a lot.

Inigo's voice takes Vardall out of his thoughts. "Neither will I, my friend." The Khajiit says, and after him, Bran barks. "I'm also sure the others will not care for that, either."

Vardall carefully analyzes his options. In his mind, he was again being offered to be quickly cured from the Darkspawn taint, but by replacing one cursed blood for another. True he could always ask Serana to turn him into a vampire, but still he didn't feel comfortable with the idea, not to mention the conversation he had with Nerevar about Divayth Fyr. That left him only with his last option. "Soul trap me. I don't feel good as a vampire." He thought Serana would negatively react to his words, but actually she was very comprehensive.

"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 within the Soul Cairn." She says.

Vardall nods. "I've already passed through worse things. Let's do this."

Serana closes her eyes for one moment, looking back to Vardall after a few seconds. "I know this is difficult for you. I hope you trust me. I'd never do anything that could hurt you."

Vardall smiles. "I know that. And I trust you completely."

Having someone to say those words to her made Serana feel good. "Thank you."

She then walks away from Vardall and grabs one soul gem it had around there, preparing a spell on her right hand after that. "I'll try to make this as painless as possible. Hold still."

Vardall made a signal for Inigo and Bran to stay away, before turning back to Serana. "I'm ready."

Serana nods and then she hits Vardall with her spell, that being the last thing Vardall sees before everything turns black and he passes out.

Once he starts to retrieve his conscience, Vardall immediately feels he was lying down and a hand on the back of his head. He then starts to grunt and to slightly move his head.

"He's waking up!" Vardall identifies that as Inigo's voice.

Once the Dragonborn finally manages to open his eyes, he's received by Serana gently looking at him, with a smile on her face. Only now he realizes that he was laying his head on Serana's lap, with her gently holding his head. That made the Grey Warden dodge his gaze and blush a little.

"Are you alright?" Serana's voice was gentle and tender, and she was obviously worried. If this was in another place and situation, Vardall would have no problem in returning to sleep right now.

He passes his hand on his eyes. "Did it work?"

"I guess so." Serana watches as Vardall gets up, strangely feeling alright. She also gets up. "There's only one way to find out." She looks to the portal and Vardall follows her gaze.

He sighs. "Let's get this over with." He then looks to Inigo and Bran. "Needless to say you both will not be able to come with us."

Inigo nods. "I know, my friend, don't worry about that. Me and Bran will wait here. You and Serana stay safe in that place."

Vardall smiles. "You and Bran too, Inigo." He then offers Inigo a handshake, that the Khajiit immediately respond, and pets Bran, making the Husky lick his face. He laughs then follows Serana until the portal, feeling nothing once he gets close again.

"It's okay." Serana puts her hand on his shoulder. Vardall smiles and takes a deep breath, finally entering the portal to Soul Cairn, with Serana right behind.

# # # # # #

The ice fields of Skyrim was one of the most remote parts of Tamriel, with temperatures and snow storms that looked like it would tear the flesh out of your bones. Not even the most resilient Nord was able to survive here for too long, but Vardall's friends already realized impossible tasks before.

Besides the extreme cold and snow storm that made it almost impossible to see too far, crossing the ice fields of Skyrim wasn't too much of a problem for Nerevar and the others. Because of how that place was, most of the water was frozen into thick layers of ice, which made it possible for the group to walk to the outpost where they hoped to find Septimus Signus.

From the entire group, Arissa certainly was the one that was suffering the most because of how cold it was. She wasn't used to such low temperatures, not to mention her rogue armor didn't have sleeves, which she was cursing at that moment.

"Let's find that place soon." Arissa says, with her jaw shaking without control. "I'm freezing, even with these furs."

"I think we're close." Nerevar says. At the same time, he spots close to them what looked like to be a door on a giant iceberg that looked like it was hollow. He opens the door and confirms his suspicions. "Here, let's get inside."

Nerevar didn't have to say twice for everyone to quickly get inside that place after going down a wood ladder. Still wasn't very good, given they're inside a giant ice cave, but at least they're protected from the storm and sharpened wind from outside. The group proceeded as a line for the narrowed ice corridor of the place and found themselves onto a quite open area and also noticing they're on a high ground. Looking down for a moment, they all immediately notice one giant structure or artifact that looked like Dwemer making, also noticing a man dressed with blue mage tunics down there.

"That's probably Septimus." Nerevar looks back to the others. "Let's proceed with caution. We don't want to slip and fall from this height, nor scare the man. We need him to cooperate with us."

"What a cozy, little place to a mentally stable scholar call his home." Lucien said in a sarcastic tone, but also agreeing with Nerevar, just like the others. Then they proceed down carefully. Once they're there, Septimus doesn't seem to even notice their presence. Lucien raises an eyebrow in confusion, proceeding to touch the man's shoulder. "Excuse us, Septimus Signus?"

"When the top level was built, no more could be placed." Suddenly, Signus quickly turns around to gaze at the entire group, scaring them a little. "It was and is the maximal apex."

The companions looked at each other with confusion. "Are you... all right?" Lydia asked.

"Oh, I am well. I will be well. Well to be within the will inside the walls." Septimus keeps saying nonsense things, making them even more confused.

"What brings you to this remote and cold place?" Arissa asks, even knowing he would probably speak more nonsense.

Septimus this time turns his attention to the giant Dwemer artifact behind him. "The ice entombs the heart. The bane of Kagrenac and Dagoth Ur." The mentions of Kagrenac and Dagoth Ur immediately called Nerevar's attention. "To harness it is to know. The fundaments. The Dwemer lockbox hides it from me. The Elder Scroll gives insight deeper than the deep ones, though. To bring about the opening."

The Protector of Morrowind analyzes what the crazy mage told them, now confused with his conclusions. "You... think the Heart of Lorkhan is inside this... Dwemer lockbox?" That was an impossible thing. When Nerevar used Kagrenac's Tools on the Heart during his battle against Dagoth Ur, the Heart was released from the mortal plane, disappearing completely. That made the Protector of Morrowind even more confused.

Lucien approaches him. "The Heart of Lorkhan? It hasn't..."

"Yes." Nerevar quickly answers Lucien, knowing what the Imperial would ask. "No way the Heart was returned to the mortal plane. I would have noticed over the centuries."

The Dunmer and the Imperial looked back to Septimus. And now Arissa decided to ask him a thing. "You said something about an Elder Scroll. Can you tell us where to find an Elder Scroll regarding dragons?"

Septimus looks back to the group. "One block lifts the other. Septimus will give you what you want, but you must bring him something in return."

Lydia sighs, crossing her arms. "Always this? What do you want?"

"You see this masterwork of the Dwemer. Deep inside their greatest knowledge." He points back to the lockbox. "Septimus is clever among men, but he is but an idiot child compared to the dullest of the Dwemer. Lucky then they left behind their own way of reading the Elder Scrolls. In the depths of Blackreach one yet lies. Have you heard of Blackreach? 'Cast upon where Dwemer cities slept, the yearning spire hidden learnings kept'."

Lucien raises both his eyebrows. "Blackreach? The old and lost Dwemer city?" Blackreach was little recorded or mentioned in books, but it had its myths and legends surrounding that place.

Septimus nods with a giant smile on his face. "Yes! Under deep. Below the dark. The hidden keep. Tower Mzark. Alftand. The point of puncture, of first entry, of the tapping. Delve to its limits, and Blackreach lies just beyond. But not all can enter there. Only Septimus knows the hidden key to loose the lock to jump beneath the deathly rock." Septimus then quickly takes a strange orb and a sphere and delivers it to Lucien. "Two things I have for you. Two shapes. One edged, one round. The round one, for tuning. Dwemer music is soft and subtle, and needed to open their cleverest gates. The edged lexicon, for inscribing. To us, a hunk of metal. To the Dwemer, a full library of knowings. But... empty. Find Mzark and its sky-dome. The machinations there will read the Scroll and lay the lore upon the cube. Trust Septimus. He knows you can know."

Lucien immediately recognized the cube Septimus delivered to him as a Dwemer Lexicon, that it was used to store incredible amounts of information within a compact space. Truly one more of the Dwemer wonders.

He only became confused by the sphere. "What shall we do with this?" He shows the sphere back to Septimus.

"The deepest doors of Dwemer listen for singing. It plays the attitude of notes proper for opening. Can you not hear it? Too low for hearings?" Septimus said, trying to hear a nonexistent sound.

"Right..." Arissa said, only watching all of that. She approaches Lydia and whispers in the Nord's ear: "Now I'm even more certain this guy is crazy."

"You still had doubts?" Lydia smiles.

Nerevar thinks for a moment "I know what Dwemer ruin Septimus is talking about. Is close to the Shrine of Azura."

"Well, if we want that scroll, we'll need to help this guy." Arissa comments. "Let's get this over with and do that as soon as possible."

Nerevar agrees and he says goodbye to Septimus, who only ignores them again and looks like he is lost inside his own head. The group then covers themselves again with their furs and exits the ice cave.

Once outside, Nerevar turns to the group again. "And now we can finally check what I wanted."

Lucien looks at him. "Are you sure you remember the cave's location?"

Nerevar nods. "I do. I remember very well the place it was marked on Vardall's map, not to mention Aranea also told me where it was."

Lucien nods and even smiles. "Then let's go. I'm not lying when I say I want to see an Eluvian with my own eyes since I heard of them."

Lydia and Arissa also talk. "After what you told us, we're also very curious."

"Follow me." Again on the middle of the snow storm, the group follows Nerevar until this cave where a supposed Eluvian is hidden. The walk wasn't all that long, but the cave was even more far from Winterhold than Septimus' outpost. The cave's entrance almost looked camouflaged by some ice pillars on its front, but the entrance was free as far as they could look. Getting inside, they all get really surprised when find out that cave was deep. I mean, real deep.

Following all the way down, they're quickly received by the view of the elven artifact from Thedas. It was nothing more than a giant, shaped mirror, but was totally active and emanating a type of magic Vardall only told them about, but Nerevar and Lucien could truly feel that magic was different from everything they ever saw or felt.

"Incredible..." Lucien sighs excited, quickly taking and making several notes on his journal. "I can tell that's powerful only by looking at it."

Arissa and Lydia seemed very impressed as well. "I never saw something like this." Lydia commented.

While they're looking at the Eluvian, the group didn't notice a hooded figure approaching them. "I'm honored to see you again, Nerevarine."

Turning around, Nerevar smiles under his helm for seeing Aranea Ienith again. The others also follow his movement, surprised by the worshiper of Azura's sudden appearance. "The feeling is mutual, Aranea." The Protector of Morrowind answers politely.

"Aranea?" Arissa questions. "You're the one who saved Vardall's life, right?"

The female Dunmer confirms. "Yes. I only did my duty by saving the now Guardian of Azura's Star."

Lydia crosses her arms. "I'll never get used to this thing of Vardall being a Daedra's champion."

While Arissa, Lydia, Aranea and Nerevar kept talking with each other, Lucien stepped a little closer from the Eluvian, still being very careful, giving he never dealt with an artifact such as this. He started by analyzing the structure which the mirror was attached to, getting himself surprised once he noticed how familiar that material was. Giving a closer look, Lucien had no doubt the mirror's support was made of moonstone. That made the Imperial scholar confused; besides an Eluvian existing here in Tamriel, why had a material that only exists here? Vardall never mentioned anything about moonstone existing in Thedas.

"Hold!" Suddenly Lucien and everyone else were taken by surprise by a sudden and unknown female voice and noises near them. Looking to the place's entrance, Nerevar, Aranea and the others are received by the view of a Thalmor Justiciar, her black robes creating a contrast with the golden and shiny armor of ten Thalmor soldiers she was commanding.

"Step away from that mirror right now!" The Justiciar loudly orders Lucien.

Nerevar obviously found this very strange, but kept his calm composure and resisted the struggle to grab Trueflame and Hopesfire. Instead he decided to only ask: "What is the meaning of this?!"

The Justiciar ignored Nerevar. "We're here to retrieve that artifact to the Aldmeri Dominion." The Altmer points to the Eluvian. "And also to take all of you with us for you to answer some questions."

"What? No way!" From the entire group, Arissa was who reacted more angrily, what was expected given her hate for the Thalmor had taken everything she had and killed her parents. She immediately takes her bow and an arrow and starts aiming at the Thalmors.

"Arissa!" Nerevar tries to prevent her, but without success. Because of the rogue's action, all the Thalmor took their swords as well and summoned spells on their hands, as reflex for the case Arissa tried to attack. Without return now, Nerevar also grabs Trueflame and Hopesfire, Lydia takes her steel sword and shield, Lucien prepares spells in both his hands, and Aranea also does the same.

"You and your organization have no purpose here." Aranea confidently affirms. "I'm a servant of Azura's will, and the Goddess of Dusk and Dawn commanded me to protect this mirror at all costs."

The Justiciar sounded even more authoritarian and angry now: "Degenerated Dunmer. The Thalmor's wish is absolute!"

The two groups kept staring into each other for many seconds. The air was so thick, it looked like you could cut it with a dagger. Finally, the Justiciar grunted and commanded her soldiers: "End their lives! They'll serve as more examples for those who dare defy the Thalmor!"

Nerevar and the others were in a smaller number, but neither because of that they were scared. As the Thalmor got closer and tried to attack, Aranea didn't think twice, as she cast Oakflesh to fortify herself and immediately after that casted Ice Storm to attack multiple Thalmor at once. She hit one, but others managed to dodge at time. Taking this window of opportunity, Nerevar easily kills two of them with his twin-blades. Arissa took some distance and kept firing arrows relentlessly, meanwhile Lucien were constantly casting destruction spells with Lydia close to him, blocking the strike from a Thalmor with her shield and pushing him back, and taking that chance to strike and wound the Thalmor, but didn't killed him because he dodged before that.

All the soldiers fell one by one, making the Justiciar even more angry. But from that entire group, the one wearing those two blades on each hand was the worst. The Justiciar watched as he was fighting almost like he was possessed, killing his soldiers almost without any problem. From the entire group, it was obvious he was the one who had more experience in battles.

Still convinced they still could win, even after several casualties, the Justiciar charges towards the battle, trying to hit Aranea with a spell, but being stopped by Nerevar. Aranea used that time to conjure a Frost Atronach, making the battle even more difficult for the remaining Thalmors. While the Frost Atronach and the others dealt with the soldiers, Nerevar was in the middle of a duel with the Justiciar, who tried to hit Nerevar every time, but always had her attacks either blocked or dodged. Growing even more tired and frustrated, the Justiciar starts to see that this maybe would be a hopeless battle. She clearly had underestimated this group of companions and friends.

Taking advantage of one of the Justiciar's missing attacks, Nerevar uses this opportunity to disarm her and hit her head on a nearby ice wall, hurting and knocking her out. Then Nerevar turns around, only to see the last Thalmor soldier being crushed by the Frost Atronach, finally ending the fight.

"Is everyone all right?" Nerevar asks.

"A few injuries, but nothing serious." Lydia answers.

Lucien nods. "Same here."

"I'm good as well." Arissa says.

Aranea was also fine. Relieved by that, Nerevar finally can return his attention to the unconscious Altmer at his feet. He promptly grabs some ropes he was carrying and ties her hands and foot. His actions called everyone's attention, that after healing themselves with potions and magic, walk until him.

"What are you doing?" Lydia questions Nerevar.

Once he finishes tying the Thalmor, he looks back to his friends. "We need to know what the Thalmor want with the Eluvian, not to mention learn how much they know." He looks back to the female Justiciar. "Let's wait until she awakes and question her about that."

Lydia nods. "A good plan. Also the storm is getting worse outside, so I guess we're trapped inside here for a while." Lydia was right, the snow storm outside was getting even more savage than before. Getting out would mean a high risk of someone getting hypothermia and even dying.

"Keep watching her. I'll check the others." Nerevar said to Lydia, what she agreed. He walked away and the Nord Housecarl took her sword, keeping a watchful eye over the unconscious Altmer.

# # # # # #

Farlenya Jaerwatch spent her entire life trying to be the best at everything she could: The best mage, the best soldier, the best Justiciar... but she never was able to live up to those expectations. Being daughter of such an important figure inside the Thalmor and the Aldmeri Dominion means that, since her childhood, people always put even more pressure than the normal to the Altmer for her to become the best at everything as possible, which she always failed. This mission was her last chance to prove to all those who doubted her that she was truly worthy to be a Thalmor, to make a name for herself and exit her mother's shadow...

Even one more failure.

She honestly didn't expect to awake again, expecting to be killed while knocked out. She slightly opens her eyes and tries to move her hands, only to find out she has been tied up. Her sudden movements called attention from a Nord woman close to her, who kept a strong grip on her sword.

"Hey!" The woman yelled. "She woke up."

Looking around, Farlenya spotted the same group of individuals that killed all the soldiers under her command and that had been investigated by some other Thalmor, being two Imperials, a Nord, a Dunmer, and a man she wasn't able to identify because of his helm. But given the armor was wearing was obviously from Morrowind and the peculiar accent in his voice when he yelled towards her before, Farlenya could suppose he was another Dunmer. She didn't know their names, only knew they had knowledge about the artifact he wanted to retrieve.

She was surrounded by inferior creatures and that made her disgusted, but she couldn't do anything for now, given her situation, so she only continued to watch all of them while the group approached her.

The male Dunmer with the Morrowind armor knelt down and kept looking directly into Farlenya's eyes. "We have some questions for you, if you don't mind." He asked, strangely being very polite, almost looking like he was truly offering her a choice, when in reality Farlenya knew she hadn't one.

"I don't talk with your kind. You'll get nothing from me." Farlenya said, not hiding the antipathy in her voice.

"Typical from Thalmor. I still don't know why we're losing our time with her." Farlenya's words seemed to have angered the Imperial woman from the group. By her armor and way of fighting, she quickly assumed she was a rogue, maybe a member from Skyrim's Thieves Guild.

The Nord woman looks to the Imperial one. "You heard, we need information." She affirmed. So this truly was an interrogation.

The Dunmer ignored the Imperial's words and focused only on Farlenya. "I do not wish to hurt you, my lady. We only want to know what you know about that artifact." He says, pointing to the magical mirror she had come here to retrieve.

Farlenya's expression remained unchanged. "Again, I'm not talking to any of you."

After that, the Dunmer looked to the ground and remained quiet for a while, looking like he was lost in his own thoughts. After a few seconds, he looked back to Farlenya, his voice sounding a little more serious now as he asked: "Do you even know what that artifact is? What's its purpose?"

She remained totally quiet, making the Dunmer sigh. "Why do you Thalmors always have to be this complicated?"

Then a male and blonde Imperial, who was behind the Dunmer, puts his hand onto the Dunmer's shoulder. "I suppose we'll not get anything from her, Nerevar. At least not now."

The Imperial's words surely caught Farlenya by surprise and made a sudden change in her expression, becoming confused now. "Nerevar? Like the Nerevarine? What type of nonsense is this?" Even considering herself as superior to all the others, just like the other Thalmor, Farlenya grew up reading the stories from the Nerevarine, and she would be lying if she said she didn't respect even a little the legendary Dunmer hero.

The Dunmer, the said "Nerevarine", quickly looks to the blond Imperial before sighing and remaining a few seconds in silence, obviously considering his next words carefully. Finally after several seconds, he looks back to Farlenya. "He's right. I'm the Nerevarine."

"Do you truly expect me to believe in that?" For quite some time, the Thalmor had received information and clues that indicated the Nerevarine was back on Tamriel, centuries after leaving for his famous expedition to Akavir, and that he perhaps would be in Skyrim. But that was considered only as rumors and wasn't given too much attention. Yet... something about that Dunmer made one little part of Farlenya almost believe in him; like those two blades he used in combat.

"You can believe it or not, I truly don't care." The supposed Nerevarine said. "Regardless of anything, we still need information only you can give us and that we need to know."

Farlenya had a feeling from where this was going. "Even torturing me, you'll still get nothing."

"Your first mistake is to think anyone here is going to torture you for information." The Dunmer said. "We're not like you, Thalmor. You will tell us all what you know about that mirror from your own will."

("This pitiful excuse of an elf really think I'm gonna do such a thing!?") Farlenya thought within herself. This group certainly was more stupid than she thought.

The Dunmer then gets up and turns to talk with the others of his group. "We still need to go to Alftand. The storm outside is good for now, so we can move."

"And what about her?" The female Imperial points to Farlenya. "Don't tell me we're taking her with us."

The Dunmer crosses his arms. "I know you don't like this, Arissa. I'm not gonna lie, this also doesn't please me - but remember what I said - we still need information only she can give us."

So besides being defeated by inferior beings, Farlenya now was also their prisoner? She was honestly regretting still being alive. Her group of captives kept talking for some more time, until Farlenya was forced to stand up.

"Listen..." The Dunmer started. "We're on a important quest now, something I'm not joking if we fail, both the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion will be under threat." Farlenya doubted any single word from that mer was true, but the way he was telling her indeed sounded like something true. "This is bigger than anything your organization ever did, so behave yourself and don't try anything funny that may distract us or even force our hand to end your life."

She didn't like anything from this, but she was now a prisoner and perhaps even a hostage. She didn't have too much of a choice for now, so she only grunted and avoided eye contact with any of them, looking to the artifact she came to find. Her superiors, especially First Emissary Elenwen, didn't believed when she said she had located that mirror, telling her that the object was just one giant myth from her people and that searching for it was one giant lost of precious time and resources. After much insistence, she managed to convince the First Emissary to grant her soldiers to make this little expedition, yet with heavy reluctance. In the end she was right after all.

She was out of her thoughts when the same Nord woman from before grabbed her on the shoulder.

"Lydia here will take care of you all the time." The Dunmer said. "Try to escape or something else and she is allowed to hurt you badly and even kill you."

"Don't worry, Nerevar. I'll keep my eyes on this bitch all the time." Farlenya was disgusted to be touched by a Nord, but there's nothing she could do for now.

Nerevar nods and returns to talk with the female Dunmer also was there. "You're sure the Eluvian will stay safe? We don't know if other Thalmor also know this place's location."

The female Dunmer gave him a smile and nodded. "Don't worry about me, worry about anyone who tries to invade this place." She sounded truly confident from her words. Only by looking at her, Farlenya could tell that Dunmer had a plan of some sort.

The so-called Nerevar also nods and raises his hand to the female Dunmer, which she immediately accepts and both of them share a handshake. "Good luck and stay safe, Aranea."

"The same to you, Nerevarine." The female Dunmer nodded respectfully to him, almost like she was bowing. Farlenya still was greatly skeptical if that mer truly was the Nerevarine, but that skepticism was going down little by little each time.

After that and when the others were also ready, Farlenya was guided by them to exit that cave, with the Nord Lydia always at her side, watching her with eagle eyes. This, without a doubt, was the lowest point from her entire life. She had to think on how to escape this as fast as she could, but for now she only could play along.

# # # # # #

As soon as he entered Soul Cairn, Vardall immediately felt the effects. He could feel his body growing more tired, even with his Grey Warden stamina and resilience. Strangely his magic remained unaffected, with the same power and intensity. He found that quite strange, but wasn't going to complain.

"How are you feeling?" Serana asked, while putting one hand on Vardall's shoulder.

Vardall blinks. "Weaker, just like you said. But nothing I haven't already passed though in the past."

Vardall finally takes a moment to properly analyze the Soul Cairn. The first thing he noticed was the heavily gray color on this place, composed also by many structures made of a sort of vlack stone, looking like a complete dead place. He also could see some strange blue flying orbs all around and even beings and people that had an ethereal appearance, who he supposed to be souls. Looking up, Vardall couldn't let to notice what looked like a giant blue hole in the sky or something like it.

Serana was also analyzing all of the Soul Cairn. "I'd heard stories about the Soul Cairn, but never thought I'd see it myself. So far it's... about what I imagined." She looks back to Vardall. "Just for curiosity, how's this place compared to the Fade? That's something about Thedas that always got me curious."

"Well..." Vardall starts, as he and Serana start walking, watching their surroundings. "The Fade is definitely more colorful, and crazier!" He even dares to smile now. "The Fade is totally more abstract and has places that don't make any normal scene. But just being truly understanding that. Is very hard and complicated to explain it's concepts without a standard idea in your mind."

"But I guess it certainly smells better than here." Serana comments. "I frankly thought Soul Cairn wouldn't smell like anything. But it looks like we're dealing with the smell of rot while inside here. Lovely."

Vardall giggles, deciding to tease Serana a little. "I know that. I need to deal with that all the time."

Serana raises an eyebrow. "Yeah? And how do you manage to deal with it then?"

He smiles. "Well, for a walking corpse, you don't smell terrible."

"Me?" Serana became serious at the first minute, but noticed Vardall was only teasing her and decided to play along. "I smell like Nightshade and strawberries!"

The Dragonborn crosses his arms, still smiling. "You might wanna have a talk with the trader who sold you this perfume..."

Serana smiles. "I think YOU should be the one talking! If you think you smell like blossoms after frolicking in a fetid cave, you are sorely mistaken!" Vardall laughs from her words, which also makes her giggle for a moment. "But, honestly... you're actually not too bad... For someone who smells almost like a Frost Troll!"

Ouch! Vardall felt that right onto his pride. He wasn't going to let that go unpunished. "Why you... Milk Drinker!"

Serana's smile got even bigger while they kept exchanging curses to each other. "Hokkerface!"

"Nug breath!" Vardall said those words almost like on automatic, not passing to his head Serana didn't know basically nothing from Thedas' popular sayings and curses, since he never explained to her or anyone about that. Her confused gaze only confirmed what he already knew, what made Vardall laugh even more because of her confused expression.

Even still quite confused, Serana couldn't resist, but to laugh together with Vardall. Being honest, she always liked to hear his laughs, so she likes that a lot. After some more time, both's laughter trails away, only now the vampire remembered where they were.

"We're being awfully carefree, aren't we?" She thinks for one moment about that, but soon her smile returns to her lips. "It's... nice, really. To just...have fun, have someone who can help me forget about all the prophecies, Elder Scrolls, betrayal, and this awful, gods-cursed reek! Even that only for a brief moment."

He simply smiles and nods, agreeing with all of her words. "It was the same thing Alistair always said during the Blight. I guess something from him remained with me."

Serana always liked to hear more about Vardall's old friends of Thedas, not only to know even more about him, but she felt that now he has become more talkative and open minded about a part of his past. However, the smile from his face disappears after a few seconds. "But I think we still have work to do. Now... where we're going to find your mother?"

"Guess we'll have to look around." Giving one more look around, Serana spotted, far from them, an structure bigger than all the other ones around them, looking almost like a fortress. "What do you say about starting at that place?"

Vardall followed her gaze, looking back to her after and nodding. "Let's go."

Serana nods and they start moving towards that place. On the way, they both took their time to watch even better Soul Cairn and it's characteristics, and they could confirm those ethereal people were actually souls trapped in there. During the way, they're also attacked by some strange skeletons with black bones. They're quite great in number, but also very weak, at least some of them.

Getting even closer to the fortress, Serana and Vardall start to notice a giant, magical barrier all around the place. They found that very strange, and when they finally arrived at the place, Serana gasped and widened her eyes once she spotted a figure behind that barrier. Her mother.

"Mother? Mother!" Serana yelled as she approached even more. Hearing her daughter's voice, Valerica quickly turns around, totally non believer on seeing Serana there. In terms of appearance, Valerica and Serana's eyes, skin tone and clothes were pretty much the same; and their differences were that Valerica had a more older appearance and a different, very unique hair style.

"It can't be... Serana?" Valerica gasped as she approached them.

"Is it really you? I can't believe it!" Serana tried to approach her mother even more, but was unable to do it because of the barrier, blocking her just like a wall. "How do we get inside? We have to talk."

Getting as close as she could from Serana, Valerica started quite nervously to the sides, even ignoring Vardall. "Where's your father? I must have failed. Harkon's found a way to decipher the prophecy, hasn't he?"

Serana blinks. "What? No, you've got it all wrong! We're here to prevent him from completing the prophecy."

Even with her daughter's words, Valerica still hasn't calmed down. Now, finally, she noticed Vardall standing on Serana's side, with both his arms crossed. Valerica's expression immediately changed from relative fear to almost anger. "You've brought a stranger here? Have you lost your mind?"

"No, you don't..." However, Serana's words had fallen on deaf ears, as Valerica fully turned her attention to the Dragonborn. "You. Come forward. I want to speak with you."

Vardall looked to Serana for one moment, before finally getting one step closer to Valerica.

She crossed her arms. "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."

Vardall didn't let himself be shaken by her words. "I'm with Serana because I trully care about her and I wish to prevent your crazy husband from fulfilling this stupid prophecy. Not to mention, I doubt Serana would need a protector. She is strong enough by herself to deal with anything." From the corner of his eye, Vardall noticed Serana smiled with his words, even given the situation. That also made him smile a little.

However, Valerica didn't seem convinced. "Coming from one who murders vampires as a way of living, I find it very hard to believe your intentions are trully noble. Serana has sacrificed everything to prevent Harkon from completing the prophecy. I would have expected her to explain that to you."

Now Vardall changes his expression and raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"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'." Valerica explained.

When he heard that, Vardall widened his eyes and looked to Serana, remembering something she told him when he asked her about her vampirism and after he earned enough of her trust. "Blood of Coldharbour's Daughter?" He looked back to Valerica. "You mean that..."

She nods. "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." Valerica explains. "If Harkon obtained Auriel's Bow and Serana's pure 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."

"I'll never allow that to happen!" Vardall lost his posture when hears that, now holding both his hands into fists, at each side of his body. "I'll kill that son of a bitch first!"

Vardall's sudden angry explosion scared Serana a little, but she soon recovered her composure. Valerica only shakes her head. "If you believe that, then you're a bigger fool than I originally suspected. Don't you think I weighed that option before I enacted my plans?"

"I already faced and killed stronger opponents than Harkon, and that was before me discovering that I am a Dragonborn." His words seemed to have surprised Valerica for a moment. "Also, Serana trust's me, why won't you?"

Valerica chances her attention from Vardall back to her daughter. "This stranger says he wishes to help, Serana, yet he hunts our kind like animals for living. Why do you trust him?"

Her mother's words seemed to have touched right on Serana's nerve, as she looked more angry now. "Because this 'stranger' did more for me in the brief time I've known him than anyone has done in centuries, even you!"

Valerica obviously isn't happy because of her daughter's words. "How dare you! I gave up everything I cared about to protect you from that fanatic you call a father!"

Serana then crosses her arms and avoids her mother's gaze. "Yes, he's a fanatic... he's changed. But he's still my father. Why can't you understand how that makes me feel?"

Hearing those words made Valerica's angry expression to smooth a little, making her realize how that situation was affecting Serana. "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."

Serana finally looks back to her mother. Her expression is a mix of anger and sadness. "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, like a dog. 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 for you, too."

Hearing those words made Vardall want to do nothing but to put a hand on Serana's shoulder to try to comfort her somehow, but he held himself and allowed her to continue. "I want us to be a family again, but I don't know if we can ever have that luxury. 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."

Okay, that was enough. Not being able to hold himself any longer, Vardall rushed until Serana and placed one hand on her shoulder, as a form of saying she wasn't alone and to make her feel better, what seems to have worked, as she was initially caught by surprise by that but soon looked to Vardall and gave him one genuine smile, what he obviously corresponded.

Valerica watched that with a curious gaze, but she quickly moved that out of her mind. "I'm sorry, Serana. 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 turned her attention to Vardall again. "Your intentions are still somewhat unclear to me. But for Serana's sake, I'll assist you in any way that I can. You want the Scroll, and 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."

Vardall nods. "What do we need to do?"

"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." Valerica explained.

"Sounds simple enough." Vardall said. "Once we deal with those keepers, we'll come back."

Valerica still had one last warning to them, however. "Just be careful. 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."

He cracks his neck. "Just one more dragon to my crescent list of deaths and absorbed souls." Valerica still thought Vardall still was a little fool, but she had to admit that the young man had enthusiasm.

The smile from Vardall's face disappeared and he looked to Serana. "You're okay?"

The vampire nods. "I am. Let's do this." She looks to her mother again. "We'll come back soon. I promise."

"Be careful, my daughter." Valerica says and Serana smiles. She turns her attention to Vardall. "Keep my daughter safe, you hear me?"

"You don't even need to ask." And with those final words, Vardall and Serana walk away to kill the keepers and free Valerica.

Thank you for reading. Remember, comments in how I can improve are always welcome.