**Author's notes: I've been sick these last couple weeks, so apologies on the lateness of this chapter. I should also note that knowledge of Elder Scrolls lore isn't essential to enjoy this fic going forward.**
After slurping down a refreshing glucose sugar tube and a servitor-delivered cup of tea, I splashed my face with cold water in my bathroom to clean the dried blood from my face. Taking a few deep breaths for bravery, I examined my hair, which was still bound in two braids. The black side of my hair now had a new white streak about an inch wide, and it ran all the way through the braid from the root. Confused, I touched my new streak of white. What was causing this? From what I could deduce, my hair was whitening after serious psyker moments or when Tzeentch had harassed me in a vision. I guessed that this was better than receiving tentacles or an extra few eyeballs, which is what most other psykers experience when they screw around in the Warp with Chaos entities.
"Well, it could be worse," I whispered to my gold-eyed reflection that was crawling further and further away from looking like a normal human.
Actually, no. How could this be worse? If what Tzeentch had shown me was true, I was in deep shit here! Aside from the Nome King's existence, and Word Bear's current activities in encouraging the Rhadabans to worship me, I now had an even bigger problem!
The goddamn Inquisition was visiting Tar Vigaz and would be "interrogating" the survivors of my little visit there. At the very least, from what I remembered about the Inquisition in the lore, Ordo Hereticus tended toward disorganization and corruption, and since Tar Vigaz was all the way in the middle of nowhere, I hoped that I would simply be gone from this universe by the time the Imperium got its shit together enough to effectively hunt me.
"I'm leaving here as soon as I can," I whispered to my angry reflection. "I'm not ending up on a fucking throne as another universe's God-Empress."
A sinking feeling passed through my gut when I had that thought, and again, I felt the burning eye of the Divine Retribution itself seethe in psychic disapproval at my intentions. My expression in the mirror became dark and severe, and my halo involuntarily brightened with a harsh, unforgiving glow. A presence then reached through me, and then, something horrible happened:
"You... will... not... run..." I saw my own reflection say to me in a hissing, inhuman voice! "You... will... serve..."
Hearing myself say this, I forced my eyes closed, and concentrated on the bloodstone in my pocket, trying to draw the terrible fiery energy out of me again. Gripping the gold sink, I bowed my head and angrily pushed whatever this strange presence was away. After a few moments and a few shuddering deep breaths, the overbearing presence departed, and I noticed that the jewel in my pocket burned with an icy cold against my body. I roughly recoiled away from the mirror, and stumbled backward out of the bathroom, greatly unnerved. From here, I noticed that my right hand had actually left an indentation on the gold sink!
"Holy shit," I whispered, my jaw trembling. "What is happening to me?"
While I was briefly very freaked out at hearing me threaten myself in the mirror, after a few moments of sitting on my bed staring into space, I felt my laurels gently warm, and now, I was calmer. These laurels were great, and I was very happy that I had them so that I could deal with whatever eldritch machine spirit was trying to subsume me. I then realized that I was now essentially stuck between two bad places. The Divine Retribution had its own agenda, which was basically to maniacally crush anyone who opposes me and "my" humans, and Tzeentch seemed to want me to retain my free will. He had even given me the information necessary to put me in possession of the bloodstone in my pocket. Both of these choices felt like they would lead to bad outcomes, and I contemplated that I was in a very dire position!
Not wanting to ruminate anymore, I ended up laying down, and I nudged a command into the Divine Retribution to wake me up in a half an hour.
After a short nap which did not include any unwelcome visions, I was refreshed, and with a quick stretch, I stood up to venture back outside. Today, we were going to meet some aliens, and investigate a downed drone. Hopefully, we wouldn't have any surprises. Before leaving, I transferred the bloodstone (which was still glowing very softly) to one of my trouser pockets. I opted to leave my eagle staff behind, as I was trying to stay away from the appearance of being a giant gold monster right now. The staff seemed to have the power of magnifying my energy, and I didn't think I could handle any more psychic tantrums today. As I departed my quarters, I sensed Lian also making his way down the corridor in his armor as a bulky metal shadow.
Lian's new armor looked absolutely fantastic; it was just so damn cool to see real power armor in person. It appeared that my personal Honor Guard had even buffed and shined everything since I had last seen him in his armor, which made him look extra awesome. The Fallen's new armor was mostly glossy black with dark silver details, and the Dark Angels silver heraldry of a winged sword was displayed prominently across his breastplate. Space Marines in full armor were incredibly intimidating in person, and the way Lian moved reminded me just how powerful and dangerous he was. The authors of my home reality describing Astartes trans-human dread were really right on the money considering Lian's incredible in-person presence.
The Fallen Paladin held his helmet in his left hand, and his huge power sword was slung across his back as he stopped to briefly salute me. At his hip, I could see that he had opted to take his bolter along for this event for extra preparedness. "Inheritor," he greeted me.
"Hey, you look great. But, don't kill anyone unless I tell you to, okay?" I instructed with a glance to his bolter before indicating to Lian that he should follow me.
"I obey unquestionably, Inheritor," Lian rumbled softly as he trailed behind me like a hulking shadow made of ceramite, muscle, and metal. The marine's metal steps were surprisingly quiet for how massive he was, I noticed.
Virgil appeared at my left side in a flash of light as Lian and I walked down the central corridor of the ship. The hologram informed me that most of my crew had dutifully removed all the supplies from the scuttled Sweet Song, and were now waiting in the round foyer room near the Divine Retribution's entryway for further instructions. Alberich also emerged from behind Lian, and began walking on my right side. The German psyker had taken the liberty of further telepathically coordinating with the aliens, and he had asked them to meet us outside beneath the head of the vessel. According to what the psyker sensed, he informed me that they were close. I was also informed that the snow, while blustery and unpleasant, had only accumulated at about a few centimeters. Even so, the wind was beginning to cause it to collect in drifts outside. It would be a rough walk down from the hills for the alien visitors we were about to receive. When I remarked on that, Alberich also detailed that he sensed an odd "singing" whenever he concentrated on the location of the aliens. When I tried to get him to elaborate, the psyker was unable to, and was only able to describe that the aliens were using some kind of "music magic" to fend away the snow as they made their way down here.
With Lian, Alberich, and Virgil in tow, I made my way to the ship's main "chest" area. In the wide foyer room before the stairway to the bridge and the ship's main entrance, the rest of my crew either bowed or saluted me (with the exception of Zok, who simply nodded his beaked head in my direction). Jinnicky was also here, and babbled to himself as Null kept a close eye on him to his left.
Entering this area, I spied a new individual standing directly to Null's right. A tall Skitarii with a more male silhouette stood at attention beside the Tech-priest. While I was able to recognize this person as Rahm, he appeared greatly changed from when I had last seen him during our escape from Tar Vigaz. While both he and Kaas (who stood at Rahm's right) had appeared very similar before, this Skitarii had been significantly altered. The upper left quadrant of his torso, which included his entire left arm and a large portion of his chest, was now expertly reconstructed with new metal interwoven with plates and threads of gleaming living gold. A custom cut red robe (that still had creases from being folded) was slung over the Skitarii's body like a loose sleeveless trench coat. Two fearsome prehensile and tentacle-esque mechadendrites with three sharp grasping claws now emerged from each of Rahm's shoulders to hang over his head in an "S" shape. These new appendages were similar to those that the battle servitor, 77-X, had on his back. Something that appeared to be an unknown weapon lay in a scabbard on the Skitarii's left side. Rahm now appeared to have been altered to be more effective in close combat. These upgrades made him seem far more dangerous than he had been before.
"Glad to see you're okay, Rahm. Looks like you're tough now," I remarked as I examined the repaired warrior. "He's really impressive! Did you do all this just in the last couple days, Null?"
"Elementary alterations for my line of work, Inheritor," Null quipped, a note of pride in his buzzy tenor voice. "The encounter with the Necrons inside this vessel brought forth a concern that warriors styled for more strength-based combat may be more useful for us. Kaas is already designed to be excellent with a rifle, and so I thought it fitting to have Rahm altered into a useful bodyguard equipped for melee combat."
"I obey the will of the Omnissiah," Rahm grinded out in a rattling, mechanical voice that sounded somehat like a growling metal dog's. "I have been upgraded to more effectively carry out the Machine God's will."
"Isn't it glorious? How blessed we all are!" Jinnicky quickly interjected at Null's opposite side. The mad Magos giggled. "The avatar of the blessed machine! The majesty of His direct presence! And He's right here!" Jinnicky then pointed his remaining arms in my direction. Well, he actually pointed above my head, which caused my crew to nervously glance around at one another. The mad Magos then squealed like a happy little girl receiving a new doll. This was very awkward. I really hoped that this guy wasn't going to be a permanent member of the crew.
Rahm, seeing this, slowly cocked his head toward the Magos, and while I could not discern any emotion from the Skitarii's featureless glowing pair of blank green eyes, I definitely sensed confusion. In order to not have this be a whole "thing", I turned to the rest of my crew and said, "Okay, so we're going out to meet the xenos, and after that, we're going to investigate that crashed drone. Everyone be on your best behavior with the xenos. Don't insult, kill, or mess with these people; just let me do most of the talking. I don't want to fuck this planet up, got it?"
"Did you want us all to accompany you, my leader?" Alberich asked. When I turned toward him to answer, for a very brief moment, I thought I saw the paler, and more uncanny body that Tzeentch always wore to talk to me in the Warp, which caused me to jump.
"Uh," I mumbled, catching my breath before quickly recovering. I glanced toward the spider Magos, who was now chanting in 1s and 0s under his breath. Jinnicky looked terrible. A few of his mechadendrites appeared to still be non-operational, and were held limply at his side. Many of the Magos' eyes had burned out along with his tenuous grasp on reality. According to what I understood, Jinnicky had been engaging in the Imperium's favorite pastime of killing xenos in his time here, so I considered that it would probably be a bad idea to bring him with us to see said aliens, especially in his unstable state. "Yeah, not everyone. Jinnicky, I want you to stay here with the Skitarii. Hold down the fort, as we say. Rahm, Kaas, take Jinnicky on a tour of the ship, but don't take him into any sensitive rooms, like Null's workshop or my quarters. Keep him comfortable and make sure he doesn't hurt himself. Everyone else is invited to come, but not commanded aside from Lian, who is guarding me. And like I said, just be on your best behavior."
As I gathered my crew in preparation to leave, Zok communicated to me that he wished stay inside because he was working on another amazing cooking project, which I encouraged. Within a few moments, the rest of us (minus the two Skitarii, crazy Jinnicky, and a sad flickering Virgil who couldn't leave the ship) were now standing before the open entryway. I stepped forward, and peered outside as my friends waited behind me. My laurels kept my exposed head nicely warm and protected from the elements, which was very convenient. Looking outside, I saw that the snow had not abated, but at least it wasn't terribly heavy. Tiny white flakes whirled around in blistering whirlwinds outside in an unpleasant wintry torrent. I mentally commanded the ship to make the gangway again, and I watched with amazement as flowing living gold cascaded out of the vessel like water, sculpting itself into a functional stairway. Wow, I thought, for all this ship's overbearing brutality, I conceded again that the Divine Retribution really was an incredible piece of machinery.
"Beautiful snow planet," I heard one of the Blank sisters observe with quiet appreciation nearby. Sometimes, I forgot that these women were around because they were so unobtrusive and quiet.
A strange ululation could now be perceived at the edge of my hearing, and it caused me to shiver involuntarily as I waited for the gangway to finish making itself. Alberich walked up to stand beside me, his hair whipping in the gusty wind; he had a slight halo shimmering around his head, signifying that he was using his psyker powers in a substantial manner. The German psyker exhaled deeply, and his halo fell. "That's their singing, that noise. They're almost here." Alberich pointed out ahead into the snowy mess.
Over the howling wind, an unusual trilling tone called out in a musical cascade. It had a sort of psychic resonation, I realized. These aliens did say that they could sing the weather away, I remembered.
"They tell me they are close, that they see the bird," Alberich said. "They say that they have offered to stop the snow for a short time."
"Stop the snow?" I asked.
"They have told us to watch."
As we waited for the living gold gangway to harden further into useability, more musical tones could be heard over the wind. These tones then took long sweeping sighs of notes, almost as if they were singing a lullaby. The noise caused goosebumps to alight on my skin. Behind me, I sensed that Lian was alarmed.
"They have a witch with them," Lian warned, his soul now alight with concern behind me. "This song. It isn't a simple song. It calls through the soul." I now sensed that the Fallen was donning his helm, which was probably smart.
"It's manipulating the weather," Rasputin said in awe. "Look!"
As the singing grew louder, I noticed that the wind was beginning to calm. The gangway was now hardened and ready for use, but I didn't head downstairs just yet. Alberich pointed ahead and down again, and my attention was brought to three shadows walking through the calming wintry atmosphere.
My psyker senses informed me that the central figure, a woman, was responsible for this magical singing. The wind continued to abate over a few moments, and now, only soft flurries fell before us. Three slender shadows walked further into visibility against the curtain of white; their unusual song quieted to a gentle, more sibilant cadence. The heads of the xenos turned upward toward us as we remained standing in the open doorway of the ship watching the gangway weave its flowing metal into functionality. One of the male figures, likely the one I had spoken to previously, raised a hand in greeting and smiled. I waved back, and the three newcomers continued to approach us through the fresh snow.
"Be wary of the alien," Lian warned behind me, his soul radiating disgust toward the approaching xenos. His voice, now being filtered by his helm, was much harsher. "Inheritor, I will obey you in whatever you command."
"Ah, you would've done well in the Reich, my friend," Alberich quietly observed with warm appreciation.
"Treat this meeting seriously, all of you!" Null hissed. "I suggest we not do this at all, but if this meeting is wisdom, then-"
"Shh," I hushed my companions behind me.
The three aliens were all about my height, and from what I could see from here, they were just as I had perceived before. There were two men with full dark beards adorned with tiny gold beads, and one woman wearing some kind of unusual brass helmet that had two shark fin-like horns over each ear. All three had pale bluish-grey skin, large pointed "elf" ears, and long dark hair; they were dressed in what appeared to be suits made up of gold (or brass) plates of metal over leathers and furs. In a way, all three appeared to be somewhat dressed inappropriately. All that metal had to be cold in this weather.
"Alright, let me do the talking. Come on, guys," I said as I began to walk down the stairway. In my pocket, I felt the biting cold-heat of the bloodstone as it drew away a flash of repugnance toward the aliens. I allowed my Corona to gleam delicately around my head so I would look cool and imposing. Behind me, my crewmembers followed.
Greetings, Mage Erika, I heard Yamac's psychic voice as he continued walking forward through the snow which had now all but stopped under the magic singing, which also now quieted. One of the men then shouted a phrase toward me which I did not understand. It appeared to be a question.
Sorry, I don't understand you? I quickly telepathically responded.
The trio stopped, and began to speak amongst themselves in an unknown, and very guttural language. I felt my psyker senses tingle as my Sight tried to intuitively understand what they were saying. I remembered that back on Nubua, Nabopolassar could understand us if spoken to due to some kind of translation magic, but for whatever reason, it was proving difficult to parse what these aliens were saying. As I watched them, I saw that the woman in the helmet appeared worried, and she was pointing behind me, displaying that she seemed to be concerned over one of my crewmembers, likely Null or Lian.
I reached the bottom of the stairway, and stepped into the snow, which was about as deep as my index finger. I continued to walk forward toward where the three aliens stood speaking in a strange language a few paces away. Hey, I transmitted to Yamac, who appeared to be the taller man with the longer beaded beard. So if you're worried, none of these people that you can see here are the guy that was giving your people trouble. We come in peace.
The three elf aliens stopped speaking. Yamac fixed his brilliant blue-green eyes suspiciously upon me, and the woman of the group asked a tense question, which was then telepathically interpreted by Yamac to me. Where is he? The other metal one who has hurt our people?
He's on my ship right now, but look, we literally just met him and we're not really on his side, I quickly explained. It's actually pretty complicated. He recently lost his mind and we don't know what to do with him. We'll keep him under guard. I decided to gently reach forward with my Sight to calm these aliens into not being aggressive or suspicious. I was tired of going places only to ruin them, and damnit, I wasn't going to start more problems with my presence on Ix!
My Sight reached through their souls, and I sensed their trepidation. In a subtle whisper, I soothed their worries like a balm, and felt them relax. The three aliens then observed me thoughtfully with wide almond-shaped blue-green eyes, and now that they were closer, I see that their armor wasn't really armor, but more akin to thin flexible plates over more climate-appropriate attire. Yamac again tried to speak in voice, asking me what sounded like another question. I shook my head, and turned around to my crew for help.
"Hey, Null, do you understand them at all? See if you can say something that they can understand."
Null stepped forward, and the three aliens stepped back, likely unnerved by his similar appearance to Jinnicky.
Don't worry about this guy. His name is Null, and he's our Tech-priest. Null isn't the person who hurt you. He knows a lot of languages, so we're just trying to understand you, I transmitted to Yamac, who turned and translated what I had said to his friends, who then relaxed.
With a grinding clearing of his throat, Null began to attempt different languages that included both voice and gestural components. Each time, the aliens appeared confused, and did not understand.
"I cannot comprehend their language or their race," Null said to me before stepping behind me again. "Their language is unrecognizable. They are not Aeldari; that is all I can confirm with you through my memories."
"We do not understand," Ennoia spoke in Nubuan to me. "Their language is alien. We do not recognize them either."
The rest of my crew quickly answered in agreement that none of them could understand the xenos' language.
Yamac stepped forward, and bowed his head as he transmitted, We do not understand your spoken words, I am afraid. But, you can understand me this way. I ask you now, have you come from Nirn?
Where is Nirn? I inquired. Something about that word sounded oddly familiar, and I was now feeling a sense of crawling recognition as I looked at these uncanny elf aliens. I'm sorry, I don't know where that is. We came from a world in the northeastern quadrant in the galaxy and we're resting here before we head south again.
Galaxy? Yamac asked. He then turned to his friends, and repeated the word in voice to his companions, who appeared perplexed. What is a "galaxy"?
Uh... I psychically made a noise of confusion.
"What do they say?" Null asked me eagerly, tapping me on the shoulder with a mechadendrite.
"They're saying they... they don't understand what a galaxy is?" I explained incredulously.
Null sighed with irritation, and walked to stand beside me again. "Something must be getting lost in psychic translation, as they are obviously somewhat advanced if they are operating an energy weapon from a distance. This can sometimes happen with certain unclean xenos species, and it makes communication somewhat confusing. My reluctant proposition, Inheritor, is that we take them aboard the Divine Retribution in order to have the machine spirit to translate for us on one of its screens if you absolutely insist upon speaking to them. If it worked for Ennoia and Morai, it may work for this as well. We keep them under heavy guard, of course."
This was a good idea, and I agreed. I turned back to Yamac, who was speaking between his two companions. So, we have something that can translate your language aboard our ship. Would you like to come aboard for a little while? I'll make sure the guy you're fighting with doesn't give you trouble, I gestured behind and above me toward the big gold eagle.
Yamac looked upward, observing the Divine Retribution in great interest. He then turned to his companions and translated what I had said, which caused them to look at the Divine Retribution with concern. This construct, it will not harm us? We are expected back at our city soon.
You'll be safe, I responded with a smile. You have my word as captain.
The xenos began to chatter amongst themselves in heated way. It appeared that they were being cautious, which was entirely understandable after what Jinnicky probably put these people through. They'd be taking a risk by entering a foreign spaceship. The woman pointed upward toward the beaked head of my vessel. It appeared that she was trying to convince the two men of something important.
"Are you sure you want to invite these aliens aboard?" Alberich asked me, his voice tinged with alarm. "We know nothing about them."
"As much as I distrust Germans, I agree with this one presently," Rasputin hummed. "They had an energy weapon able to strike and disable a shuttle from a fair distance. They appear to be more developed than they would seem. While they may not be Aeldari, they certainly seem to possess the same guile."
Again, I felt my soul lurch reflexively with repugnance toward the aliens that had acted with previous aggression toward my people. This was surge of emotion was blessedly calmed by the bloodstone in my pocket.
"I am inviting them in. Look, I don't want to knee-jerk hate people like everyone else does in this reality." What I didn't mention was that I was looking to do the exact opposite of what my Imperative was telling me to do at the present because I was getting tired of feeling the Divine Retribution push me around. "Aside from justifiably hating Jinnicky, they seem friendly enough, and I don't think these three are dangerous, and these people, the uh..." I paused, and telepathically asked Yamac, What do you call yourselves? What is your race?
We are called the Dwemer, my lady mage, Yamac informed me with a polite nod of his head.
"So these- what," my words died in my throat, and I turned back to the elf aliens standing before me in the snow. "Dwemer? Really?" I couldn't even speak for a moment as I scrabbled back into the depths of my nerd lore. The Dwemer! I recognized that name from the Elder Scrolls universe! Holy shit, real life Elder Scrolls elves! They even looked like how Dwemer were supposed to look too!
I telepathically asked Yamac to confirm that they were really Dwemer, and he did so with a warm, pleased smile. He even spoke the word aloud, pointing at both himself and his companions. The alien psyker then added, Other races from another land have in the past named us dwarves, deep ones, and other names. You look as if you recognize that name, the Dwemer psyker said, stroking his beaded beard.
"Okay, wow," I said, turning around to my crew, my world spinning. The small crowd gazed at me expectantly. "So, I think I actually might know who these people are, but let's get inside so the Divine Retribution can translate for all of us."
Was this Tzeentch's fault, or Todd Howard's fault, I internally grumbled. My life really was a bad fanfiction...
Before we entered the Divine Retribution again, Null walked ahead so that he could make sure our guests wouldn't run into Jinnicky when we were on the bridge. We didn't need that guy having another breakdown right now.
After Null had gone ahead for his errand, I directed everyone inside the big gold bird. Our group quickly traveled up the stairs, and now, we all stood on the bridge with the aliens. The Dwemer marveled at the three gold thrones while chatting in their unusual alien language. I stood catching my breath at yet another awe-inspiring discovery in my new crazy life. The freaking Dwemer were here! An entire race of transplanted people from another universe! I had been a casual fan of the Elder Scrolls games from Oblivion and Skyrim, but I didn't have deep intimate knowledge of the lore of that universe. However, I did know enough that I knew that the Dwemer were a race of technologically developed subterranean elves that had mysteriously vanished at some point in the distant past of the setting, and that no one knew what had happened to them.
And it was really damn unfortunate that they had somehow ended up here in this universe! That they seemed to be ignorant of their situation here was strange until I remembered that this world had been under a stealth field for a long time, shielding this world from unsafe eyes. Sadly, that stealth field was now down, which meant that this world was open for new terrible visitors! These people probably had no idea the horrors that would soon await them...
The woman of the trio removed her helmet, and shook out a long thick mane of dark hair. She was quite striking, and appeared to be the leader of this little group by the way she carried herself. The other man in the group, who had a shorter beard than Yamac and intricate thick braids in his hair busied himself with touching the plated metal of the Divine Retribution's interior walls, his eyes displaying quiet awe. Despite their expressions being somewhat neutral, I could tell that the three Dwemer seemed excited to be here, their souls bright with curious enthusiasm.
Null returned, and assured me that the Skitarii were now posted as guards at the base of the bridge stairway. In order to be extra safe, I commanded the Blank sisters to guard the entrance to the bridge here. Lian, Null, Virgil, Rasputin, and Alberich stayed near me as I now stood behind my throne. With a quick psychic order, I brought the three giant holographic screens up before me, which caused the three Dwemer to jump backward in surprise. I smiled, and reassured the xenos that everything was okay.
"Divine Retribution, can you translate what these three aliens are saying and put their translated words up on the display? And also, say them aloud?"
"Affirmative. Standing by," the Divine Retribution responded in its impassive powerful voice of whispers.
Go ahead, I telepathically said to Yamac, pointing toward the central holographic screen. The spirit in this machine, this uh, construct. It will translate your spoken words so that we can understand them on these screens. I gestured upward.
Yamac began to slowly speak, projecting his voice outward to be heard. The central screen before us briefly glimmered, and just before the words were displayed, the Divine Retribution translated what the Dwemer psyker had said in its sibilant voice. "Hello, those-of-the-surface. We are happy to meet you." After a moment, another line of strange glyphs and symbols appeared on the screen, which was what I assumed to be Dwemeris.
The Dwemer trio turned to me with expectant looks on their faces, and I confirmed to Yamac they could now be understood this way. Understanding this, the three walked ahead of the three thrones and turned to the side so that they could see both our group and the screens. The woman began to speak in an authoritative voice, and it was translated by the Divine Retribution. "Greetings, to you, those-of-the-surface. I am Azsabrina, second lieutenant Tonal Architect for the grand city of Mer-Zel, beneath these mountains, the Ruby Peaks. I act as representative to my people, the Dwemer. I am accompanied by Yamac, a mage..." Yamac bowed politely toward us. "And Agruzbrar, our pathfinder." The man with the shorter beard who had been investigating the metal of the bridge also bowed. "Our diviners have foretold of an eagle that would bring the heavens to our sight in this land, and bring us enlightenment. Our people have been displaced from our original universe, and forever, we have been seeking to return from where we came. But now, Yamac tells me that you do... not come from Nirn to this land? You have not come seeking us?"
I shook my head and said, "No." I then was able to appropriately recall where I had heard that word before. "Nirn" was the name of the world that the Elder Scrolls franchise was set in. "No, I haven't come from Nirn. I'm assuming that's where you came from?" As I spoke, I saw that the Divine Retribution was also translating what I said into Dwemeris text, but not speaking it.
Azsabrina, of course, said yes, further confirming the identity of these people. Wow!
"But, your reactions," the Dwemer woman said. "They lead us to believe that you have seen individuals such as us before."
"I hear the xenos!" I heard an infuriated distant voice shriek from the stairway. "They're treacherous! Let me through, you two glorified toasting units! The Omnissiah needs my help! Don't listen to them! Fear the alien!" Unfortunately, this was also translated.
I turned to the Dwemer, who glanced at me suspiciously. "I promised I wouldn't let him hurt you. This is my ship, so you're under my protection."
My words were interrupted when I heard the Skitarii barking a few lines in binary. The sound of metal striking metal echoed faintly, and I heard the crazy Magos say, "Let me through, damn you both! Fool hereteks you both are! I need to assist the Omnissiah!"
Azsabrina narrowed her eyes. "This person, this fiend, we call him the metal devil. He came to our land and interrupted our dig for heartstones, taking control of an ancient archaeological site. He proceeded to slaughter us for the crime of existing in this land before he did. He killed the second most senior Tonal Architect of Mer-Zel. He robbed her of her valuables, and desecrated her corpse! This man you protect, he is a murderer!"
"And you should all be exterminated!" Jinnicky screamed up from the stairway. "Kill all the xenos! Glory to the light of the Machine God!"
"No one is exterminating anyone this afternoon," I growled, hoping that Jinnicky could hear me. "And, yeah. About you looking familiar: I recognize your race. But, what I'm about to say is going to sound unbelievable..."
With a deep breath, I began to explain the existence of a multiverse, and that I had come from another universe too, just like they (or their ancestors) apparently did. The Dwemer were amazed to discover that in my universe, they existed as part of a fictional story. Virgil, who stood beside me as I explained this, appeared absolutely enthralled by this information. While I couldn't see Lian's expression through his helm as he loomed nearby, I could sense that what he was hearing was blowing his mind again. The Dwemer, again, didn't actually seem all that outwardly emotive toward what I was saying, but they listened intently as my own words translated on the Divine Retribution's holographic screen. They seemed to be a very stoic people, from what I could sense, keeping their physical expressions of emotion minimized. Their souls, however, inwardly blazed with fascination and interest; they just didn't show it.
"Incredible the pattern that reality weaves throughout existence," Azsabrina poetically said with an introspective purr. "We have studied the theorized existence of a multiverse before. The fractal tapestry of creation branches ever outward, an architect of fate weaves all these stories together in a strange harmony. And our ancestors' efforts to divorce our song from mortality, from what I understand, may have resulted from a cosmic whiplash, displacing us from Nirn. And you came from a reality where our stories are simple fiction?"
"Yeah," I confirmed with a friendly grin. "I came from a reality where your universe exists as just a story. But, this reality, the one we're in right now, is a different reality from yours or mine. It also exists as a game to my reality." I honestly felt like I wasn't explaining this correctly, and looked to my attending crew for help.
Seeing that the Dwemer continued to wear puzzled expressions, Null then spoke up. The Tech-priest walked to stand beside me before pointing at me with one of his whip mechadendrites. "The multiverse exists, yes, and some dimensions are uniquely powerful. Her reality is an exalted one, I theorize. She comes from a universe that dreams our reality here. And now, it would seem, another reality is connected to her native dimension, and is also being created by it, just as this one is. Fascinating!"
Divinity reveals itself again, Lian thought loudly beside me, causing me to slightly jump in surprise.
"So, how long have you folks been here? I'm sorry if I'm not remembering correctly, but I think that, and correct me if I'm wrong, your entire race vanished from your world during a battle in your ancient history. It's a big mystery in your universe. No one knows what happened to you!"
The three Dwemer exchanged knowing glances. They almost appeared embarrassed. Downstairs, Jinnicky continued to whine like a frustrated dog.
"It... it is a mystery to us as well," Azsabrina slowly spoke, appearing sheepish. "At the time of our displacement to this land, war had struck Dwemereth, our homeland. We had word that one of our people's leaders was experimenting with higher levels of tonal architecture, the metaphysical science of the weaving of song, manifestation, and creation, in an attempt to win this war. Our stories state that one day, a blinding flash of light enveloped all the people of Fahlbtharz, our city, and then, our people found themselves standing upon the surface of a strange, and completely alien new world with no stars in its night sky. We, the Dwemer of Fahlbtharz, have been here for over nine hundred rotations, as we can see as time passes here."
"Nine hundred years," I whispered. "So, actually not that long in the grand scheme of things in this universe. This world's name, according to the vast human empire that spans the galaxy, is Ix, by the way."
"Ix?" Azsabrina spoke quizzically with a sniff. She glanced at her companions, who did not look impressed. "We have called this land Duum-Fal, and we are its tenders. That is its name. Now, please tell us what you meant by the word 'galaxy'."
It turned out that the Elder Scrolls universe was completely and utterly alien from our conventional cosmology! The Dwemer described each "planet" as a plane of existence, and not just a simple physical world, and their suns and stars were essentially big balls of magic in the sky. I was relieved to discover that these people had at least been studying their new location enough to discover that the rules of reality differed in this dimension. All three Dwemer appeared greatly interested when I prepared myself for describing this war-torn magic insane asylum of a universe.
I took a deep breath, and feeling bad for these people already, I began to explain the general rules of reality for this universe.
About ten minutes later and one terrifying explanation about the Warp, the galaxy, the Imperium of Man (along with the Emperor), and the general unending horror gripping this universe, I now stood before three shocked Dwemer. Their souls positively radiated the cold psychic emotion of dread which actually caused me to shiver in empathy.
"Is this... is this true?" Azsabrina asked my other crewmembers, her eyes wide. "These men here, they are what are called psykers, and not mages?" Rasputin and Alberich nodded. "Who are you all? What are your names?"
I noticed that the Dwemer had been eyeing Lian nervously ever since they had first seen him, so I opted to finally introduce him. "The armored giant here is Lian. He's my Honor Guard, and he's one of those augmented humans I mentioned called a 'Space Marine'. He's bigger and stronger than normal humans; he's really powerful," I offered, walking to Lian's left and touching his armored gauntlet. You can introduce yourself if you want, I psychically clarified to the Fallen Angel.
"My name is Paladin Lian. I am an Astartes Honor Guard. I am bound to protect the Inheritor with my life," Lian declared simply, his voice distorted and somewhat intimidating through his red-eyed helm.
"Salutations, er, aliens," Virgil then spoke up, his form flickering in feigned politeness to the aliens that he probably found repulsive. "My name is Virgil Allegrii. I was once a human psyker of the Imperium of Man, but after my death a thousand years ago, I was given new life weeks ago when the Inheritor allowed me to exist again. I am a hologram." Virgil vanished and reappeared with a flicker to punctuate his point, which caused Yamac to jump backward in fright.
The three aliens whispered among themselves in another alien language, which surprisingly, the Divine Retribution was unable to parse. With a flash of intuition, I was able to perceive that they were assuming that Virgil was a "ghost", which was close enough for now.
"My name is Alberich. You telepathically communicated with me earlier as you walked here," the German psyker added with a polite bow of his head. I could tell that he still seemed somewhat suspicious of the xenos, but he was on his best behavior. "I am a human, and I am what they call a psyker. I also come from another universe where I worked as a psychic researcher and occult scientist under my government. I'm of the belief that I come from a similar universe to my leader here, but earlier in the sands of time." Alberich gestured toward me.
"And I am Grigori Rasputin, a human psyker of renown in two universes. I was the former grand advisor to the leader of the Conglomeration of Ev, a cluster of worlds far from here," the Mad Monk said with a leer, his eyes wandering near the armored chest of the lady alien. What sort of crazy universe did I live in where historical Rasputin from Russia was introducing himself to the fucking Dwemer? "Between myself, Alberich, and our godlike gold Empress-Inheritor, we three are travelers across the multiverse from similar wellsprings. We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams, if you wish to get poetic about it. Alberich and I are the Inheritor's co-pilots, and she is our beautiful tempestuous captain."
"The women in gold masks, also of man?" Azsabrina asked, pointing toward the Blank sisters who guarded the exit, who politely introduced themselves with a bow.
The Dwemer woman then pointed at Null. "And the metal devils are what you call Tech-priests? They follow a 'Machine God'?"
"We are, yes. And yes, we follow the Machine God, the Omnissiah, the blessed spirit that powers all sacred technology. My name is Null. Simply that," Null offered dryly in a pinched voice. I could tell that the Tech-priest was doing his best to merely tolerate these aliens. "And as you were told before, I am not precisely allied with the one you're at war against downstairs. His name is Magos Jinnicky."
At that moment, Jinnicky started to yowl from down the stairway again like a cat on fire, his mechanical voice pitched with insanity. "Kelbor-Hal is betraying us, Omnissiah! I hear him up there making pacts with xenos! Don't listen to Kelbor-Hal! He will inflict the scrap code upon us and damn progress for ten thousand years! I have seen it!" Jinnicky screamed at the base of the stairway, obviously still trying to get upstairs and ruin everyone's day. This caused the Tech-priest to recoil uncomfortably.
Not enjoying that we were continuously being interrupted by crazy Jinnicky, I quickly excused myself to race toward the entryway of the bridge. Jinnicky had actually managed to get partway up the stairs and was now being restrained by Rahm, whose new prehensile mechadendrites were coiled around the psychotic screaming Tech-priest, preventing him from advancing.
I turned on my Corona, and bellowed in my angry, resonant voice, "Shut the fuck up!"
This was enough to stun Jinnicky into being quiet again, and the Skitarii escorted him back down the stairs. I heard someone bark a line of code that sounded like a swear.
Dimming my Corona, I turned back around and went to talk to our guests again, but before I could say anything, Azsabrina asked me in a trembling voice, "And, pardon me, but what... are you, my lady? You do not appear as man, mer, or anything else as you describe. Your halo glows with strange brilliance, and your eyes..."
"Uh," I responded dumbfoundedly. "I- I... well I'm complicated, let's just say that. I'm more or less human. Sort of."
I heard a whimpered cry of "The Omnissiah..." from Jinnicky downstairs.
"They call you Omnissiah, but it was explained to us that Omnissiah is the force that the metal men follow," Azsabrina slowly observed, narrowing her eyes as she studied me again critically. "You also say that there is a gold human God-Emperor on a distant throne far from here that holds the mantle of Omnissiah. Are you the same human variant as this Emperor, an artificially elevated machine-god?"
The question somewhat put me on the spot, but I eventually nodded before shaking my head, uncomfortable. "But, I'm not God. No. I'm Erika, and like what Null said, I'm a Traveler from another dimension. People call me Inheritor, or captain. I'm hard to describe, but if I had to describe myself, I'd say that I'm now a weird mix between human and the machine spirit of this vessel, as it is a part of me now." Feeling somewhat adventurous, I wondered if I could speak through the Divine Retribution in the vessel's own voice while inside it. "Watch," I said as I closed my eyes and concentrated.
I was rewarded to hear myself speak through the Divine Retribution's sedate androgynous voice as my human body's mouth remained closed. "The ship and myself are an amalgamate being. It is me, and I am it. It is slowly making me into the same sort of entity that the Emperor I told you about happens to be. He was Divine Intervention, and I am Divine Retribution." While I was happy that I was able to speak through the ship like this, I wasn't happy about that last part, as it was said almost automatically, like the machine spirit had snuck it in there. I opened my eyes, and realized that they were glowing brightly along with my Corona, which I consciously dimmed again.
The Dwemer were staring at me with wide, impressed eyes. They glanced at each other before speaking again.
"We have a query them, Inheritor-being. Your vessel was foreseen in our augurs as a grand Numidium that would finally reveal the celestial heavens in this universe. Since our displacement from Nirn, and until very recently, our night sky in this land has been entirely black. But, the heavens have revealed themselves shortly before your arrival. Tell me, what power do you have to cause the stars to ignite if you are not a god?"
I turned toward Null, and passed the question to him, although I was briefly confused as to what the word "Numidium" meant as it had not translated. However, Null was able to explain in basic terms the existence of a stealth field that had surrounded this world, and how it may have broken recently through coincidence of our arrival.
"What you say now means that our world can be seen by the rest of the lands above," Azsabrina mused, her expression unreadable, but likely finally realizing that their civilization was probably not in for a good time soon if what we said was true (and it was).
"And, I'm guessing you guys are familiar with the Warp since you've been here awhile," I added, now worried.
The three Dwemer nodded sadly. "What you call the Warp may be what we call Aetherius, our changeable realm of magic, potential, and power. It was... quickly discovered that the manipulation of magic did not work as expected here. Aetherius seems to be corrupted in this realm, and we can only use it with great caution."
"Yeah, I'll bet," I laughed inappropriately.
Downstairs, I heard Jinnicky moan piteously again. I tried to ignore him this time.
Azsabrina was now speaking with her companions in a hushed voice that wasn't being translated. She then turned to me, and asked, "Tell me, Inheritor, how do you fly this marvelous machine, this Numidium, through the void? We are curious. Can this vessel accept any pilot, or does it need a symbiot such as yourself?"
A peculiar and unpleasant suspicious prickle of Sight traveled through my nervous system, and I decided not to be entirely forthcoming on how piloting this vessel worked. While I didn't think these people were actually out to steal my ship, I wanted to remain cautious in order to keep my stupid mistakes to a minimum. Still remaining friendly, I asked, "So, you were all born here in this universe, right?"
"Yes, we were born here. It has been over nine hundred rotations since we arrived," Azsabrina replied.
"Then you can't fly it, if you're wondering. It's impossible because it won't recognize you. This vessel works on weird soul magic; only I can operate it with my copilots. Like what I said earlier, it is a part of me, and I am a part of it," I said, pulling my fingers across the back of the central throne. My Corona emerged in a faint shimmer.
Beside me, Rasputin picked up on my vague uncomfortable feeling of suspicion on this topic, and helpfully offered: "Inheritor, may I remind you that we still have the crashed drone to attend to, and the day grows ever later. It has been lovely meeting our new friends, but we have quite the agenda today, I'm afraid."
"So we do," I said before beginning to wander toward the exit of the bridge. To make sure Jinnicky didn't cause more problems on the bridge stairway, I turned to Null and quietly gave him an order to make extra sure that we wouldn't run into the crazy metal spider on our way off the vessel. This was probably overkill, but the mad Magos had already somehow gotten halfway up the stairs despite the Skitarii guards. The Tech-priest bowed shortly, and then, quickly made his way down the stairs.
As Null departed the bridge, I turned to the rest of the crowd here, "We've got some things to attend to today, but maybe you can help us with something. You folks shot down a drone earlier, right? A black mechanical disk?" I asked.
"Yes," Azsabrina replied. "We assumed it was technology operated by the metal devil. While you are not our enemy-"
"Kill the xenos, Omnissiah..." I heard Jinnicky call out in a desperate voice as Null made his way downstairs.
"...He is." Azsabrina's expression flashed with great anger before she composed herself.
"Do you know anything about that drone? Have you studied it yet?" I asked, now standing before the stairway.
The Dwemer paused, and began to speak between themselves in whispers once again, their tone suspicious. "Lady Inheritor, we have a proposition for you."
"Oh?"
"We have been studying the machines of the metal devil since his arrival, and these include the flying machine that we disabled a short time ago. It has not been the first drone we have seen, and above, we witness unusual motions and shadows in the sky, no doubt caused by his people. We can give you copies of our notes if you give us custody of this beast. He has murdered our kind, and stolen our resources."
The Dwemer wanted me to give them Jinnicky? They'd probably jail and kill the Tech-priest if I gave them custody. Something about this request stank, and I shook my head. While the spider Magos was rude and insane, I didn't feel up to screwing this guy over twice today, especially after nearly killing him as a result of my temper. "Sorry, but right now, he's under my protection. And he didn't send that drone. There's another dangerous world that's been shadowing this place, we think. Those people sent the drone, and they're a million times more dangerous than Jinnicky. But, if you want, you can come with us to where the drone has crashed and I can tell you about Cyclothrathe and what a Hell-Forge is."
Azsabrina's eyes widened, and she glanced at her companions again. Their souls were alight with the emotion of unwelcome surprise as they whispered quietly among themselves. "What do you know?!" the Dwemer woman asked me in worry.
"Stay away from me, Arch-Heretek!" Magos Jinnicky barked downstairs, and I heard a distant metal crash. "The wretched Fabricator-General under Horus will not fool me! No! Keep away!"
I ignored that, and turned to the aliens. "Like I said, come with us, and I'll tell you."
The Dwemer paused before the stairway, and I could tell that they weren't happy at being denied their local mass murderer, which was actually completely understandable. Their souls absolutely rang with indignance, but they were at least keeping it together, and offering the appearance of listening to me. Azsabrina sighed deeply in what appeared to be resignation, and closed her eyes before saying, "We... will accompany you for now, but this beast you are harboring, he's a murderer. He killed the daughter of Mer-Zel's chief Tonal Architect, and stole her heartstone! It would be just and wise of you, Inheritor, to allow us to take him."
"Well, look, we'll talk about it later," I said, dismissing the aliens and changing the subject. "We're going to the crash site right now because we're worried about that other party I told you about, and you should be too. You can come with us or not, but you can't stay in here alone." I waved us forward again down the stairs, and gratefully, the trio followed us without argument.
As I traveled down the bridge stairway with my crew and the aliens, I smiled; I was now successfully pushing against the Divine Retribution's soul-washing, and my reactionary anger seemed somewhat tempered now. The ship had wanted me to kill these aliens immediately, and they honestly didn't seem all that bad. As a matter of fact, it was really neat to meet the Dwemer from the Elder Scrolls universe, despite their terrible misfortune at finding themselves here. Hopefully, now that I had this bloodstone, I wouldn't lose my shit and make nearly as many mistakes as I did before.
"Omnissiah... danger," Jinnicky wheezed as I reached the base of the stairway, and I paused, forcing the crew behind me and the aliens to also stop. Rahm had the mad Magos pinned against a far wall with his new mechadendrites, and Kaas now had a rifle pointed at his head. Null also stood nearby, his flickering emotive eyes keeping a close eye on the tense situation. I could tell that he was vastly uncomfortable with this situation. Behind me, I could feel the three aliens bristling with hatred. Jinnicky continued to mutter. "They're coming. Oh, I can hear them. The hereteks. Danger. They're coming," the Magos wheezed.
"What danger isn't coming our way?" I whispered, concentrating my attention on the bloodstone in my pocket, and hoping that we wouldn't see any more difficulty on this world before we were capable of leaving.