The stones whistled in the light draft that surrounded the Khajiit and Imperial as they crept through a bloodsoaked staircase, ascending to the top. Lucien and Inigo made their way through the barren den of necromancers, and, to their horror, all the wizards were dead. Slaughtered before they could even reach them.
Skeletons also lay about in beds, next to bookshelves, and shackled to the mouldy walls, developing mould themselves.
They dove into the flooded part of a large, waterlogged room and swam down a collapsed stairway to the northern sector, where Lucien discovered a submerged bedroom, with a chest and a copy of the Alteration spell book "Water breathing", which was floating near the room's ceiling to the left. Lucien learnt the spell and cast it upon himself and Inigo. The pair were surrounded by a mystical aura that overshadowed their bodies as the traversed the murky depths.
Back above the water, there was a door on the far side of the room heading east. The next room was guarded by a single skeleton, and contained three ruined single beds that have been jumbled together unnaturally. Inigo made short work of the skeleton with his ebony sword.
In the northwestern corner was a large collection of kettles with a steel sword among them, both perplexing and concerning Lucien.
Just how demented was this place?
A passage led them farther to the east, to a large open staircase that curved upwards. Corpses lay strewn about and blood decorated the halls like a demonic mural of death.
"What on Nirn happened in this place?" Lucien wondered as he narrowly avoided tripping on a ribcage laying haphazardly on the stairs.
Two voices could be heard above and Lucien cast a Muffle spell on himself and Inigo. Unlike the students of the College of Winterhold, the Students of the Arcane University in Cyrodiil learned many of the entry-level spells in the Mage's Guilds.
Lucien supposed that this made him a jack-of-all-trades in Skyrim.
He and Inigo crept higher up the stairs and eavesdropped.
"More souls are needed for the Star. The last one died before he could be harvested."
"We can't take another villager from the surface so soon. I told you to prepare everything properly!"
"We can just sacrifice another disciple. Apprentice Haerlon will be no great waste."
"Yes. He'll do."
"I am guessing that it was that bad guy you heard about." Inigo stated. "Those must have all been his students, but he killed them to achieve his own ends."
"So, just the one we fought earlier survived... or... perhaps he was under some sort of spell. Now they want to use him. Too bad, I guess." Lucien proposed.
"Or he was under duress." Inigo explained. "Whatever is going on here, I just want to get it over with."
The Muffle spell wore off then.
"You and me both, my furry friend." Lucien sidled against the moldy wall and hushed quickly as a shadow emerged from the light of the doorway above.
"What was that?" the mystery person asked, revealing himself to be a necromancer with an ebony dagger.
"Now, Inigo!" Lucien ordered as his Khajiit friend loosed a bound arrow through the Necromancer's skull.
"Good shot!" Lucien exclaimed as he followed up by casting Welling Blood on the second Necromancer who emerged once his friend was clipped. The wizard wailed as the life was pulled from him.
Lucien then lunged with his sword in hand and drove it through the dark Wizard's gullet.
The way was clear, and they reached the top, where they were greeted by a round stone room that contained six empty prison cells, all of which were facing one another.
Skeletons and rotting bodies could be seen within them, unnerving the traveling pair.
"The stench is awful..." Inigo pinched his feline nose. "I'd rather stand next to Cura after a month of her on the road than spend another minute here!"
"I imagine she wouldn't smell that bad." Lucien rolled his eyes.
"Oh, no, my friend. You have not been with her long enough." Inigo laughed.
"Well, you don't exactly smell the best yourself." Lucien scoffed. "Winterhold has a bathhouse under the college bridge. Just saying."
The following room contained another foul necromancer, and was shallowly flooded. The necromancer methodically raised a few skeletons to aid him as soon as he saw them enter.
Lucien activated a Ward to block the Necromancer's ice spikes and retaliated with a lightning bolt under the maniac's feet.
As the Necromancer was standing in water, the lightning charged him twice as hard, frying the wizard from the inside-out.
Inigo dodged swings from the skeletons' sword slashes and found his way to dry ground as the lightning arced along the water, catching the walking corpses as well.
The final room atop the last flight of stairs contained a distorted elven skeleton, charred black with red lights in its eye sockets, beside a broken Soul Gem-like Star, a bloodstained Grimoire depicting a faded hexagram on the front, several ruined skeletons, and a chest, along with a ladder that would lead outside to the top of the mostly intact tower in the lake, Inigo presumed.
Lucien picked up the bloody Grimoire and began to read:
"Malyn Varen's Grimoire
by Malyn Varen, Master Enchanter
An Achievement of Magic over Daedra by Malyn Varen Master Enchanter:
Though some scoffed, some scorned, at the very notion of experimenting on a Daedric artifact, I have succeeded where the ignorant and superstitious would not even dare to try. The Black Star. My achievement over the Daedric Lord Azura, a
re-envisioning, a remastering of the ultimate soul gem. It shall become the vessel of my immortality. Final proof that mortals can live as indefinitely as the denizens of Oblivion.
The visions, the voices that Azura has sent to taunt me. While some called me mad, I knew the truth. Nothing can be held sacred in the pursuit of advancing the very nature of magic itself. Let the daedra send their foul images into my mind. They have given me the burning desire and unrelenting discipline to shut out all influence, all morality.
My disciples and I have built a new site, free of the prying eyes of those primitive minds in Winterhold. Fort Ilinalta. We had been conducting a few minor experiments before our exile, some of which led to the disruption of the island, but a few enchantments have kept the ruins intact, and beneath the waters of Lake Ilinalta has been the perfect place for the final phase of the Black Star."
"Oh... oh, that is not good. The Black Star... experimenting on a Daedric Artifact. I guess the Vigil wins yet again. All the death this thing caused..." Lucien looked down at the stricken artifact at his feet. "This... isn't good. Maybe we should ask Nelacar about it."
"Or we could bring it to the Priestess of Azura." Inigo stated. "I think she would know what to do with it."
"But we can't bring it to Azura with Malyn's soul trapped inside it! What if she gets offended?" Lucien expressed his worry.
"Hmm... you do make a good case..." Inigo wondered. "Okay, we will bring it to Nelacar. Though afterwards we are going to bring this thing to the Vigil of Stendarr, yes?"
"Cura will know what to do with it." Lucien expressed. "But anyway, step by step! Let's go." The pair of them headed up the ladder and onto the roof, where they decided to Fast Travel to the Inn.
Nelacar was sitting at the table on the southeastern corner of the room, eating his supper, when Lucien came rushing in.
"I have it, Nelacar! I have it!" Lucien exclaimed, getting his attention.
"Huh? What now?" Nelacar expressed in exasperation as he turned to face the returned Imperial. Once Lucien opened his satchel, revealing the broken Daedric Artifact, the elf's demeanour immediately shifted to one of great surprise. "Stendarr's Mercy. You found it. Azura's Star. Maybe this is my chance to make things right."
Inigo watched as the elf took the dislocated pieces of the legendary artifact, and he began to feel odd as he observed the way the Apprentice Wizard stroked and ogled the item. It was almost obsessive. "Er... Lucien?"
"I can finish Malyn's work, the way we had meant to before his madness." Nelacar explained. "It would mean cutting the Star off from Azura. Only black souls would be able to enter it once we finished."
"Cutting it off from Azura...?" Lucien asked. "Is... is such a thing even possible? We're mortals. We couldn't..."
"I do not like this, my friend." Inigo warned the Imperial. "It smells stinky."
"Give me a minute to examine the Star. I'll see what we need to do." Nelacar continued to try and shift the pieces back together as they seemed to slip out."These cracks and fissures aren't encouraging. Malyn must have been getting desperate after he left the College." He held the center close to his right eye and looked therein. "He did it! He actually managed to trap his own soul inside, but its falling apart. It needs more and more souls to sustain itself."
"He's nothing but a pile of bloody bones, now." Lucien informed him. "Clearly Azura doesn't appreciate this kind of experiment."
"The Star is being used to sustain Malyn's soul. I can't fix it while that fragment of him is inside." Nelacar stated.
"So we need to deal with Malyn somehow." Lucien had a feeling that this was what was about to be said.
"Precisely. But it's not as simple as enchanting Malyn away. He's put up barriers. Souls are only allowed in, not out. If we were to... somehow... send a soul inside the Star. One that was ready to overpower Malyn from the inside..." Nelacar hypothesized.
Lucien shivered. "I don't like where this is going."
"You want to send his soul inside, don't you?" Inigo called him out immediately.
"A special type of soul trap. Placing you inside the Star without fully killing you. Once Malyn has been dealt with, I'll bring you back." Nelacar stated. Then, to lather honey on the topic, he continued to try and ease Lucien into the decision. "He's already dead. Worse, the enchantment keeping him intact requires black souls. I don't know how many people he must have killed. If we don't do something, the enchantment will eventually fade, and the Star will slip back into Oblivion. Azura will have the last laugh."
"Are you insane?" Lucien asked. "I'm not doing that! That's crazy! Not even for Science! We need Cura for something like this..." Lucien shuddered lightly. "Or the Vigil. But then, the Vigil would just lock it away, and then we would have nothing to return to Aranea."
"My friend, you do not know what you are doing!" Inigo shook Lucien. "I am going to get Cura from the College! Do not do it until I am back with her!"
If you call for her aid, Lucien, you will never win her affection, and you will only show her the coward you are. the thought entered his mind. With that, Lucien quickly grabbed Inigo by the arm. "No, Inigo! That will defeat the purpose of it all!"
"But how do you know that Azura will not curse you for defiling her star, Lucien?" Inigo snarled at Nelacar after saying this. "This is a Daedra we are talking about!" With swift movement, the blue Khajiit wrested the broken Star from Nelacar's hands. "This man wants to do exactly what Malyn did! If you go inside, you will end up like that Malyn!"
"What's to keep me from ending up like Malyn?" Lucien posed the question.
Nelacar explained casually. "Malyn's soul is beyond hope because his body is dead. But I'll be keeping you just slightly alive on this end. But be careful. If you die inside the Star, your soul will be disrupted. There's nothing anyone can do for you if that happens."
Inigo pulled Lucien back by the shoulder as cold sweat beaded on his fresh face. "We are out of here. Come on, Lucien!"
"Why do you want to cut the star off from Azura?" Lucien needed to ask. "Just... why?"
"Because that way we could use the star for what it was always truly meant for: Using black souls for enchanting." Nelacar said it with gut-wrenching nonchalance. He would want something that would allow him to desecrate the souls of the sentient, and for what? Stronger enchantments?
Azura never intended for such a use of her star. It was a boon to mages in Tamriel, so that they could improve their prowess with enchanting - and the souls within would simply enter Azura's realm, right?
This, however, cutting off the Star from the Daedric Prince, could only leave the souls with one destination: the Soul Cairn. The horrific realm that Cura, Carcette, and Serana described to them during their downtime. The thought was bloodchilling.
"Nelacar, tell me; do you know anything about the Ideal Masters?" Lucien asked. He needed to know. That had to have something to do with this.
"Yes, only that Malyn had contacted them in the Enchanting Laboratory." Nelacar confessed. "I have heard the legends, of course, but he had spoken to them directly. They instructed him on how to trap his soul inside of the Star. It was as a Grand Soul Gem becomes corrupted into a Black Soul Gem."
"Serana might know something about this." Lucien wondered. "She's practiced in Necromancy, a tad. She did send part of Cura's soul to the Soul Cairn..."
"Wait... you know somebody who has been to the Soul Cairn?" Nelecar grew fascinated and stood up from his seat quickly.
"Yes; one is a Vampire, and the other is a Vigilant of Stendarr." Inigo warned the High Elf. "If you want to meet either of them and explain your plan, that would be quite interesting." the cat smiled impishly as the visible discomfort set in.
"Oh... I see." Nelacar took a moment to weigh it in. "Though, I don't see a Vigilant being particularly upset about me cutting a Daedric Artifact off from its Daedra."
"Try and explain the purpose behind it and see what will happen!" Inigo laughed. "Cura will splatter you all over the wall!"
Nelacar crossed his arms and lowered his head. "If you go to that Priestess of Azura, you'll be making a big mistake. The Daedra don't care at all for us mortals. Their artifacts would be better off in our hands, stripped of their influence."
Lucien admitted thst there was some truth to his words; though Nelacar's designs for Azura's Star were nefarious in nature. He shook his head. "Something like this is better off in a Priestess' hands than a schmuck's."
Nelacar swiftly grabbed Lucien's arm and clenched down hard. "Give me the Star or I'll Soul Trap you inside it for real.."
Lucien wrested his arm back, but the Altmer's grip was like steel. "Release me!"
Nelacar began to charge a lightning bolt in his free hand. The violet streaking energy welled into a ball, when Inigo shoulder-tackled him, splintering the energy.
"You will let him go!"
Nelacar tore Lucien's sleeve off from the sheer momentum of the shove.
"Hey, hey! Not in my inn!" Dagur shouted from the bar counter on the other side. His pleas fell on deaf ears, however, as Nelacar blasted Inigo with a lightning bolt in retaliation.
"Damn you!" Lucien exclaimed as he cast Flames on Nelacar. The warlock's Ward drank the magical energy as he closed in on the Imperial.
Nelacar cast Bound Sword and stabbed forward, to which Lucien blocked with a Ward of his own, simulating a sword-agsinst-shield fight with the High Elf.
"You never should have let me see that Star!" Nelacar laughed. "I will stop at nothing until it's mine! Azura herself be damned!"
As soon as Nelacar went in for an overhead slash, Inigo leapt onto him, and attempted to pull him back.
Lucien's Ward wore off and he instead, in the heat of the moment, held up Azura's Star to block the ethereal blade.
When the Bound Sword hit the artifact, a violet blue light flashed around the trio, and then they vanished into thin air.
The Star dropped to the floor, desolate, but still glowing a teal hue before settling back in its dull, fragmented state.
Dagur gestured to his undead wife and his daughter, telling them to stay back as he slowly approached the Star.
Other patrons stared at the ominous spectacle, as well.
Dagur crouched down in front of the Star and poked it with an empty Mead bottle, determining it safe to touch. "I'm going to get that Vigilant here. Nobody go near it!"
With a dash, the barker rushed out the door, through the ruins of the city and up to the College bridge.
Faralda took a step down to meet him. "Ah, Dagur. It's been a while. What troubles you?"
"I need that Vigilant in your college, now! Quickly!" Dagur held in panic.
"She just got in, actually." Faralda stated. "Normally I would advise to give our student some space, but seeing that you need a Vigilant, it must be dire. Wait here."
Dagur leaned against the bridge entrance's inner wall and waited for almost ten minutes when Cura approached behind Faralda.
"It must be urgent." Faralda informed her.
Cura nodded as she walked up to Dagur. "Are you all right, sir?"
Dagur took in a deep breath. "Vigilant, your friends entered my Inn and brought with them a Daedric artifact... Azura's Star. They had an altercation with Nelacar, a former student at this college, and they were all vaporized by it!"
Cura felt her blood freeze. "...What...?"
"Oh, no." Faralda massaged her brow. "This is all my fault..."
"What's your fault?" Cura asked.
"And now that wretched thing is sitting broken on my tavern floor!" Dagur continued.
"Lucien and Inigo approached me, asking about Azura's Star, and the Students who experimented with it... and I directed them to her shrine." Faralda explained. "I had no idea..."
"What?!" Cura could only exclaim. The words registered, but they made no sense.
Just what the heck did they do, rob the Daedra?
Cura could feel her blood pressure rising with each passing second.
What would ever possess them to do something so stupid?
"In thin air! They were decimated when Nelacar's Bound Sword hit the Star!" Dagur fretted. "It was one hell of a spectacle, let me tell you!"
"I should never have answered their questions! What was I thinking?!" Faralda slapped herself in the forehead.
"Where is that Shrine of Azura?" Cura asked. "I've heard of it, but I haven't seen it."
Faralda gestured for Cura to hand her her map, and she circled it's region. "It's there."
"And the Star. It's still in your inn?" Cura asked.
Dagur nodded, and without wasting a moment more, Cura scrambled down the road with Faralda and Dagur following closely behind.
As soon as she entered, Cura could see the broken Star there on the floor.
The Breton went down on one knee before it and looked into its crystalline form. "I... I had no idea a Daedric artifact could be broken."
"Nelacar and Malyn." Faralda sighed. "I should have known. They were experimenting on the Star, and Malyn sacrificed his own students in pursuit of immortality using it."
Cura's eyes widened. "He did WHAT?!"
This was why Daedric Artifacts were so dangerous.
Silent panic wrenched the Half-Elf as she desperately gazed into the Star. Azura... Azura... please, please tell me my friends are still alive! She pleaded.
A vision within the Star showed her Lucien and Inigo, both spun and confused, but very much alive and corporeal.
"My beautiful Star... broken and blasphemed... take it to my Priestess Aranea Ienith at my Shrine and aid your friends." came a booming voice from above and around the group.
Faralda's jaw dropped. Had they just heard the voice of Azura herself?
Cura was unsurprised; she had encountered Meridia, Molag Bal, Sheogorath, Hircine, Vaermina, and Mara at this point.
It was an honour to hear from the Lady of Dawn and Dusk herself. Cura politely bowed her head as she picked up the pieces of the Star. "I will, Lady Azura. Please guide my steps."
"Be careful." Faralda warned her. "This will be very dangerous, I think."
"I'll have to hurry! If... if there's a for inside who could kill them, that would be catastrophic!" Cura left Faralda and Dagur standing there and hurried out the door. She checked her map for information, but noticed something strange.
Arcane knowledge filled her mind, and she was able to see a blue-hued trail of light leading off the road towards the mountainous fields. Clairvoyance.
A gift of Azura, perhaps?
Cura summoned Arvak from the Soul Cairn, casting his portal a couple of feet away and she mounted the Skeletal Horse, much to the shock of the people around her.
"Hello, Arvak. Remember me?" Cura gently pat the ghastly equine. "I need your speed. This is important." With a light kick, the horse began to run, its ghostly purple flames making it appear like a comet racing over the white field.
"This is so... bizarre." Lucien mused as he saw his reflection on an azure crystal column nearby.
The inside of Azura's Star was hypnotic and crystalline in its nature, with very few platforms to stand on.
"How did we get here?" Inigo asked as he looked at their surroundings with awe and trepidation.
"I guess Nelacar's Bound Sword had a Soul Trap enchantment on it and when he struck the star it created a sort of chain reactionary vortex that pulled the three of us inside." Lucien hypothesized.
"I knew it. Magic... it never ends well for me." Inigo moaned.
Nelacar emerged from behind a crystal stalk and grabbed Lucien by the collar. "You-! You trapped us in the Star! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
Inigo punched the Altmer across the face and quickly butt in between him and Lucien. "You will have to go through me first, jackass!"
"With pleasure!" Nelacar summoned another Bound Sword and rushed at Inigo.
The blue Khajiit was nimble and sidestepped the ethereal blade. His attempt to deflect it with his ebony sword was futile, however, as it was pure energy and travelled through his sword.
Lucien cast Welling Blood on Nelacar. "Feel my pain!" he shouted as he stripped the life from him gradually, causing the Elf insurmountable pain.
Nelacar wailed as he was brought to his knees. "Eha-! What... in... Oblivion... is this?! GYAAAAAHHHH!"
Lucien stopped once the Elf was incapacitated. Nelacar gasped for lost oxygen as he sat on his knees against the glassy floor.
"Ah, my disciples have sent me fresh souls. Good. I was getting... hungry." entered a darkened Dunmer in black, hooded robes who hissed and rubbed his hands together before turning around to face the Imperial and Khajiit. "Wait. There's something different about you."
"M-Malyn..." Nelacar gasped. "Professor Malyn! It... it's really you?"
"You can't escape your fate, Malyn." Lucien expressed as he withdrew his sword in one hand and readied a Ward in his other.
Malyn Varen tilted his head and pursed his lips, unimpressed. "Nelacar, always a disappointment. Trapped yourself in here as well, did you?"
Nelacar slowly pulled himself up. "I..."
Inigo summoned a Bound Bow. "This experiment of yours is over! You have violated the law! Pay the court a fine, or serve your sentence! Your stolen souls are now forfeit!"
Lucien glanced over Inigo with confusion for a moment. "That... sounded oddly familiar."
"It should - I have heard it quite a few times in the Imperial City!" Inigo laughed.
"And who are you to challenge me? I have conquered mortality itself. I've spat in the eyes of the Daedric Lords. This is my realm now. I've sacrificed too much to let you take it from me!" Malyn Varen spat on the crystalline floor and then smooshed the saliva under his heel as he readied for the battle. Igniting two great Firebolts within both hands, he looked to his assailants threateningly. "This is my realm. I won't let you take it from me!"
Suddenly, as if on a whim, two Dremora manifested before them.
"Oh... that is not good." Lucien's enthusiasm fell immediately.
Of all the times to run in without Cura's aid, of course it would be within a Soul-Trapping Star where they would have to face two Dremora plus a Dark Wizard. Some Vigilant Dragonborn help would have really been appreciated right about now.
"The College and it's fools were of little help. If one wishes to learn true magic, it must be learned by oneself." Malyn cast a Firebolt at Lucien, hitting him and igniting him.
"Gah!" Lucien wailed as he quickly dispelled the flames.
Unfortunately, one of the Dremora struck him with his Daedric mace, causing the Imperial to hit his back against the crystal wall. Thankfully he was able to duck under the follow-up swing that was meant for his head and the gray and red demon drove his mace into the crystal, tearing through it.
Lucien rolled across the floor and used a Flame spell against the demonic entity, though it seemed to merely agitate him.
Inigo cartwheeled and fired an arrow at the second Dremora as he made his way on top of one of the crystal columns. Thankfully he was out of reach of the fiend's black, jagged longsword, which got embedded inside the colourful rock when it missed the speedy Khajiit.
A fireball, however, blasted the rock and sent Inigo flying upwards from the sheer force of it, prompting him to break his claws trying to scramble away from the abyss below him and cling to the colourful adamant stone.
Lucien was kicked in the stomach by his Dremora for and slid across the jade floor, chipping some stone away like ice as he skidded straight into a luminescent column.
Nelacar laughed at the Imperial's futile struggle. "Hah! Did you really think you could win? You imbec-"
No sooner did the word escape his throat than a dagger impaled his heart through his back.
The High Elf turned his face to see his attacker, and horror submerged his chest as he realized that it was his teacher. "M...Malyn... why? I... was on... your side..."
Malyn smiled at his student. "Then this shouldn't be a problem for you." He twisted the blade in deeper and the Elf's soul was pulled out with a violent wail and absorbed into the Dunmer.
Malyn began to glow with a violet hue and he began to grow larger within the bright realm, easily doubling in size. The body of the Elven wizard followed suit, merging together with Malyn. With a maniacal laugh, he spread out wider and the ground itself began to crack under the strain of his increasing weight.
Inigo's jaw dropped as he witnessed the spectacle. "Oh, shit."
Malyn now stood fourteen feet tall, and was now able to climb the crystal tower.
Inigo was now a cat in a tree, with a bear climbing up after him.
"You're next!" Malyn laughed as he dug his fingers into the stones and pulled himself up.
"Like hell I am!" Inigo shouted as he pulled an Exploding Bolt of Flame and kicked it onto his Dwarven Crossbow.
He loosed the bolt and it hit Malyn in the face, causing him to tumble down the crystals with a loud grunt.
The Dremora made it to the top behind Inigo and slashed him in the back with his longsword, causing the Khajiit to cry out in surprise and fall forward.
"Die, mortal!" the Dremora shouted as he went for a killing blow with a downward swing.
Inigo rolled to his right and dodged it narrowly.
Lucien was hopeless at climbing. He continued to pants about, dodging his assailant's mace. I can't do this! I can't do this alone! Inigo! Cura! Serana! Where are you?! He panicked internally.
If he were to die here, he already had his answer. He would be absorbed into Malyn Varen, just like that fool, Nelacar had.
He managed to duck under a horizontal column and slid across strategically to outmaneuver the large Dremora.
They couldn't keep holding on like this forever.
Cura travelled up the mountain path and she could see the Shrine of Azura directly ahead, holding up her Moon and Star.
Sure enough, the Dunmer priestess was there, as the Daedra said.
"No harm shall come to me, for I live under Azura's wisdom. Her foresight protects me. Her insight sustains me." the Priestess gave praise, holding her arms up skyward. "We are children of the Twilight. Beings who are to be guided from the darkness into the light. And from the light into darkness. Azura. Who led her children away from the disaster of Vvardenfell. You are the prophet that reveals our true future."
Cura slowly approached, marvelling at the wondrous stonework that was the statue of Azura from close up.
She bowed her head respectfully before approaching the Priestess. "Excuse me, are you Aranea Ienith?"
The Priestess turned to face the Breton and was quickly alarmed. "Oh, no. I've done no wrong! Leave me, Vigilant!"
Cura realized the woman's concerns, and elected to try and diffuse the situation. "No, it's okay - I'm not here to harm you."
"You Vigilants have made it your mission to track down and kill every last Daedra-worshipper in Tamriel, for good and all! Regardless of whether we've done evil or not." Aranea jabbed her finger through the air at Cura.
"We're not a hive mind." Cura informed her.
"Hmph. You could have fooled me, with all your 'The mercy of Stendarr does not extend to Daedra worshippers.'" Aranea spoke mockingly.
"Daedra-worshippers like the Mythic Dawn." Cura explained. "I understand that the world isn't so black and white. I've always been in support of Merida and Azura, to the displeasure of my superiors."
Aranea was surprised to hear such a thing come from the mouth of a Vigilant. Though, this Vigilant kept her mace docked on her waist, not held up in the air. "Molag Bal wanted my mind, Boethiah wanted my arms, and Nocturnal perhaps my curiosity. Azura wants all of that, and our love above all. Not our abject slavering, but our honest and genuine caring in all its forms. It is important to her that our emotions be engaged in her worship. And our love must also be directed inward. If we love her and hate ourselves, she feels our pain. I will, for all time, have no other mistress." she quoted Sigillah Parate, an Arch priestess of old.
Cura opened her bag and presented the broken Star. "Maybe... maybe this will convince you. My friends, a Khajiit and an Imperial are trapped within. I need your help to save them!"
The Priestess' jaw dropped as surprise washed over her, accompanying her immediate recognition of the artifact. "Azura's Star! I knew the Lady of Twilight had sent them for a reason. Hand it over to me. I will ask Azura to restore the Star to its original purity."
"How will you do it?" Cura asked as she humbly approached with the Star and it's fragments in her hands.
"I will commune with Azura." Aranea took the broken Star, and placed it on the altar. "Azura. Mother of Roses. Goddess of Dusk and Dawn. Your chosen champion's ally has returned your Star to you."
After some silence, she turned to Cura. "She wishes to speak to you herself. Please. Place your hands on the altar, and you will hear her voice." She then proceeded to walk away from the altar, allowing Cura space.
Cura had already heard her, but she supposed this was formality.
"Greetings, mortal. Your friends have followed my guidance through the veils of Twilight and rescued my Star from Malyn Varen. But his soul still resides within, protected by his enchantments. Until he is purged, my artifact is useless to you." the soft, feminine voice spoke from beyond.
"Is there any way to cleanse the star and save my friends?" Cura asked.
"Eventually, the Star will fade back into my realm in Oblivion, but I doubt you have the hundred or so years it would take to wait." Azura informed her. "No, only one option remains. I will send you inside the Star. You will banish Malyn's soul there. Tell me when you are ready, mortal."
"But... if I banish him, what will become of Inigo and Lucien?" Cura asked.
"I shall guide them and yourself out safely." Azura promised. "I have seen your dealings, Vigilant. The tolerance you have shown my Priestess and the respect you have given me throughout your days before your peers and before my servants will not go unrewarded."
Cura was surprised that Azura paid attention to those times in the past when she had defended her on the Prince's behalf, but it was humbling and touching. "I'm ready to enter the Star."
"Have faith, Dragonborn. I will be watching over you." Azura reassured her.
Cura closed her eyes as a great force of energy washed over her. When she opened them again, she had been whisked into a crystalline dimension where the sounds of battle immediately alerted her.
Lucien was there, doing his best to dodge the Dremora's mace swings, but he was wearing himself out.
One mighty blow to his shin shattered the bone and the blonde Imperial cried out as he dropped to the floor, clasping his shattered leg. "Gyaaaahhh!" he grunted loudly as the pain overtook him.
"Now you die!" the Dremora brought his mace down.
"FUS RO DAH!" came a familiar feminine voice, roaring like thunder as the Dremora was blown into the air.
Lucien froze in place and slowly turned his head. He saw Cura descending the crystalline stairs above and rushing to his aid.
The light from the dimension around them really illuminated her, giving her an almost Angelic appearance.
"C-Candle... it's you!" Lucien tried to get up, but his leg would not allow it. He only stumbled back down in pain.
Cura knelt down on one knee before him and placed her hands on his shattered leg, and cast a Healing Spell, gently mending the bone back together. "You're going to need to rest for a few weeks, at least, after this." She told him as she finished up.
Allowing Lucien to slip his arm around her shoulder, Cura lifted him back up into a standing position. "Where is Inigo?" She asked as she leaned him gently against the crystal wall.
"He... he's on the other side facing that... that freak!" Lucien fretted greatly. "A necromancer from the College tried to extend his life using Azura's Star as a sort of Soul Bond - and he became trapped in it. He feeds on other souls to grow stronger! He swallowed Nelacar and grew bigger!"
"Then there's no time to waste." Cura exhaled. "Stendarr, grant me strength. Azura, grant me wisdom."
Before Lucien could say anything, Cura left him and ran to finish off the Dremora she'd shouted, who was climbing back up the side of the cliff's edge. As she brought down her mace, a great force hit her, causing her to slide backwards.
Malyn Varen loomed over some feet away, and was holding Inigo up in one hand by the back of his collar, and the Khajiit looked unconscious. "My thirst is insatiable!" Malyn roared as he readied another spell to fire at Cura.
The Breton's eyes widened in horror. "Inigo!" She shouted to her friend. "INIGO! DO YOU HEAR ME?! SPEAK TO ME!"
The Khajiit winced lightly and slowly opened his eyes, only to close them shut once more when the blood on his forehead ran down onto them.
The Breton was infuriated. "STRUN BAH QO!" She shouted within the pocket dimension, and strangely enough, storm clouds manifested in the sky above, and rain began to pour down.
A bolt of lightning plummeted down and struck the Dremora that Inigo had fought, landing the final blow on the demon.
Malyn turned to look at this, and Cura took the opportunity to cast Invisibility, and disappeared into the turbulent rain and clouds of mist forming in the air.
"Where did you go?" Malyn realized that the Dragonborn vanished, only to learn of her location through a vicious smack in the knee, causing his leg to buckle and him to fall forward.
Grasping the opportunity, Inigo wriggled free of his grasp and stuck his ebony sword into his arm. Cura, who was now visible, climbed onto Malyn's back and whacked him several times in the head as he attempted to shake her off.
Inigo stuck his sword in his thigh and pulled to the right, rending the material flesh and splashing the wet crystal floor with blood. The lightning cast a shine over the situation, and Lucien took the chance to enter the fray, casting Chain Lightning on the Dremora that had just climbed up the cliff, and redirecting the wave to Malyn.
Malyn thrust his back backwards, causing Cura to fall off, and spun around with his fist.
Cura blocked it with her Shield, but was knocked off-kilter by the sheer force of the hit. Another lightning bolt hit Malyn as the storm finished, leaving water in its wake.
Lucien gestured to Inigo with his head, twisting it to the side as if to tell him to move, which the Khajiit obliged. Then the Imperial wizard cast Frost on the ground before the large necromancer in a long trail. "NOW, CURA!" He shouted.
Cura immediately caught the cue and rushed forward with her Shield. "WULD NA KEST!" She blasted forward and hit into Malyn, pushing him forward onto the ice path, causing him to slide across the floor and off the cliff.
"NOOOOOooooooooo!" Malyn screamed in protest as he descended further and further into the void below, his voice shrinking more and more into silence.
Cura walked over to the edge to see the drop, and was joined by Lucien and Inigo. The three stood watch and heard no impact at the bottom of the chasm. The three took a moment to recuperate, when a loud feminine voice called out to them. "The Star is free to purify itself. Don't worry, mortal. I will return you before you are cleansed."
The world around them began to rumble and quake, and the three were quickly pulled up in a brilliant flash of light. They materialized before the shrine of Azura, in Aranea's vicinity. The priestess bowed her head.
As Cura and her friends looked around, Azura spoke once more, as her Star shone brilliantly under the sunlight, in its beautiful diamond turquoise splendor. Its light slowly faded as it was perfectly reassembled, and was lowered to the air in front of Cura, Lucien, Inigo, and Aranea, who were circled around its position. "My Star has been restored and Malyn's soul has been consigned to Oblivion. You have done well, mortal. As was destined, you are free to use my Star as you see fit."
"Thank you, Lady Azura." Cura expressed her gratitude to the more benevolent Daedric Prince.
The world around Cura grew silent, except for Azura's voice, which seemed directed to her, specifically. "Beware, Dragonborn, for there are artifacts more powerful in this world than even that of my Star. One such artifact you shall come across. Heed my words, and heed them well: when the eye is misplaced and when the Elf's own eye takes its place, do not combat it without its purifying Staff."
Cura was baffled by this prophecy, but before she could question it further, Azura faded and the sounds of the world returned to her.
"My friend, we did it! We actually survived! I thank you, from the bottom of my furry heart!" Inigo wrapped his arms around the Breton.
Lucien shied away.
Cura quickly broke out of Inigo's embrace, and she turned to scold the two of them. "What is wrong with you?! You could have gotten killed, or worse! I turn away for two minutes and the two of you are out there, playing games with the Daedra! What if it were Boethiah? Or Hermaeus Mora? Or Clavicus Vile? Or even worse, Molag Bal?"
"Well, we were helping Azura." Inigo explained. "We were not trying to anger the Daedra."
"That Nelacar on the other hand... I guess he's part of Malyn, now. In Oblivion." Lucien shuddered.
"Yeah, and you could have joined them." Cura expressed her point. "What possessed you to do that?"
Inigo walked over to Lucien and bumped him in the arm with his elbow, and Lucien shyly began to confess. "I... I wanted to prove my worth to you, Candle. I wanted to show you that I was worth keeping around! ...But all I wound up doing was endangering our lives... as usual." He sighed sadly. "I heard you were training Onmund, and it was idiotic of me to feel challenged by that. You could pick anyone you want, and I was being selfish."
Cura was taken aback. "What are you talking about?"
Lucien was baffled. "Onmund! You've been spending time training him!"
Suddenly, Cura realized what he was talking about, and she almost laughed as the misconstruction amused her. "Lucien, I was showing him how to use Healing Hands. That's all. It was only once. I have only seen him in class since. What's really going on here?"
"I'll see you back at Winterhold!" Lucien quickly Fast Travelled, leaving Cura and Inigo standing there, confused and amused, respectively.
"Very strange. Though, I guess he'll tell me when he's ready." Cura mused. She figured it best not to force an explanation at this point, though she was already almost certain of what this was really about, given Serana's observation back at Darkfall Cave.
Aranea Ienith slowly approached Cura, and Azura's Star that was now within the Breton's grasp. "I... suppose I misjudged you, Vigilant. I apologize for my haste."
Cura accepted it graciously. "It's all right. I know how overbearing we can be. And many are close-minded and see all Daedra-Worshippers as Mythic Dawn cultists. But some of us are more merciful than others. If I had it my way, I would have Azura and Meridia reclassified out of the Daedra category, even if they are in Oblivion. I'd at least place them in the Magna-Ge, like Meridia is often considered."
The Dunmer seemed a little antsy as she stood before Cura and Inigo, and she twiddled her thumbs. With a light breath, she spoke. "While you were in the Star, Azura gave me a vision. Her last, she said. I have never been without Azura's foresight since escaping Morrowind. I don't know what to do." She paced for a few steps before turning back to Cura. "If you need me, I'd be honored to accompany you, Guardian of the Star. It would give me a purpose."
Cura and Inigo exchanged glances, and Cura had to ask. "How do you fare in combat?"
"I was a sorceress of no small skill before I came into Azura's faith. Afterwards, her magic sustained me. I could easily provide my spells to your cause. Protect you from harm. Defeat your enemies." Aranea proposed.
"Well... I don't know..." Cura mused. "It can be very dangerous in my company. I do fight Daedra, and Dragons. And Vampires. And Werewolves. Bandits. Draugr..."
Aranea cringed at the thought of it. "A tough life, it seems."
Cura nodded. "Yes, but I am currently enrolled in the College of Winterhold. Have you ever considered studying there?"
Aranea pondered it for a second. "No, I hadn't... but perhaps it could be a new start for me, until I learn what I can do next."
Cura echoed that sentiment, herself. Like Aranea, she too had been beholden to fate for a very long time. The idea of freedom from it was overwhelming. She shook it off for now. "Then come with us; I'll put in a good word for you. Though, I will be taking Azura's Star to the Vigil's vaults for safekeeping."
"I understand." the Dunmer Priestess seemed content with this knowledge. "At least it will be safe from blaspheming hands there. Twilight guide your path."
Inigo turned to Aranea and offered her his arm, and the two Fast Travelled to the College.
Turning to look back at Azura's Shrine once more, Cura gave her a courteous nod before Fast Travelling to Stendarr's Beacon in the Rift.
The sun was setting on the stone tower and workplaces of the Beacon as Cura arrived. She could see Vigilant Emma, Vigilant Volk, and some other familiar faces there who waved to her, and she could see some Vigilants in slightly different Robes. One wore what looked like an Adept Robes set, but with daggers and other tools strapped onto the belt, as well as a curved hooklike sword fastened on his waist beside his Amulet of Stendarr. He was an old man with a short, gray beard, and he stood before the entry door.
"Oh, excuse me..." Cura requested entry from the old Vigilant, who moved aside apologetically.
"Vigilant Jacob." the old man introduced himself. "I'm a Templar of Stendarr, sent by the Vigil Headquarters in Chorrol. Those eyes of yours... it is like looking into the eyes of Stendarr himself."
Cura could almost feel herself blushing, though thankfully the cold bite of the air obscured it. "Er... thank you. I... guess I know why you're here."
"I'm here to note the changes made to the Province in light of the Vampire attacks, and the Dragon onslaught." Vigilant Jacob informed her. "It is not going to be easy to bring in a new Keeper, that is for sure. I suppose Carcette will be in the driver's seat here for a little longer."
Cura shrugged. "I suppose so."
She could see some Vigilants doing excavation in the earth near the tower. Maybe they were expanding the fort?
"Well, I have something to add to the vault." Cura stated. "I wish you and the Cyrodiilic Vigilants good fortune, Vigilant Jacob."
"Stendarr be with you." Vigilant Jacob blessed Cura as she opened the inner door and headed down the stairs. Vigilant Tolan and Brother Adalvald didn't seem to be in right now, so she could not boast about obtaining Azura's Star, but she placed it within the Vault just the same and called it a day.
She decided that perhaps she would spend the night amidst her fellow Vigilants before returning to the College of Winterhold the next morning.
After all that College has thrown at her so far, Stendarr knows she could use a rest.
