Chapter 27: The End of the World Began with a Piece of Paper
The next morning, everyone got up and went to get breakfast.
Subaru winced as he saw his friend. "Jesus, Patches, you look like shit."
"Ugh... feel like shit…" Patches said, covered in bumps and bruises.
Looking at the sun-loing knight, Subaru asked, "Solaire, what happened to him?"
Solaire merely said. "Karma came back with a vengeance."
Emilia raised an eyebrow. "Could you please be more specific?"
"Turns out, he ran into the Dawnguard's Blacksmith a few centuries ago and stole some materials from him." The Sun Knight explained.
"Blacksmith…?" Subaru repeated, before his eyes widened. "Wait… no way."
"What?" Erik asked, curious.
"I know of only one blacksmith that had a grudge against Patches; Andre."
Solaire gave the black-haired Undead a look. "You've met him?"
"He… may or may not have been responsible for forging the Dragon Sword."
Emilia immediately spits out her drink. "You mean the Sword that the Sword Saints use?!"
Subaru scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I might have ordered it built."
Erik's eyes widened at that. "Woah…"
"Yeah, along with a few other swords, which are now scattered."
Aela's eyes slowly widened. "Wait... the 10 Swords of Power?"
"Ding, ding, ding," Subaru said, pointing towards the werewolf.
"Is there anything you're not connected to?!" Erik asked.
"I didn't kill the last Sword Saint," the nasty-eyed Undead said.
Seigmeyer raised an eyebrow at the rather specific event. "Why? What happened?"
"She went out to slay the White Whale, but never came back," Subaru answered.
"I heard about that. A shame." Aela drank to honor the last Sword Saint.
"My money's on Pandora," Patches said, nursing his morning drink.
Subaru grumbled, "Knowing her, that's completely likely."
Erik decided to speak up. "So… what's on today's agenda?"
"A meeting with me." Everyone turned to Isran as he walked in the room, looking particularly unhappy.
"Well, good morning to you, too," Siegmeyer muttered under his breath.
"Does someone want to explain to me why someone who's not supposed to be here walked in and asked to see "four idiots that took her home"?"
Everyone else was quiet and confused, but four of them were starting to sweat a bit.
Once Isran was done talking, a familiar woman to four individuals walked in and waved.
"Hey there," none other than Serana, the Vampire Princess, said.
"Serana?! Wait, what are you doing here?!" Solaire asked.
"Did your dad kick you out?" Subaru asked.
"No, I came here because I really need to talk to you," she said.
Subaru shifted uncomfortably. "Umm… thanks, but I'm taken."
Serana merely raised an eyebrow. "Flattered you think that, but I'm not interested either."
"Oh, thank goodness," Emilia whispered.
Aela did a double-take at that. "What?"
Emilia then quickly shouted, "Oh, I mean, what do you need?!"
"The reason I came here was because I didn't know who else to trust... well, anyone who would still be alive anyway. It's about my Father and what he plans for our world." The Vampire explained.
"Oh, no," Subaru said sarcastically. "Let me guess, he's evil?"
Serana shot back with the same tone. "You're right, sunshine. Want a cupcake?"
"No, I'd like to not have to deal with some power-hungry supervillain hellbent on taking over or destroying the world for at least a decade, maybe more," Subaru bit back.
"Good, then shut up so I can explain."
Subaru sighed as he relented. "Yeah, sure, go ahead."
Aela merely smiled. "Oh, I like her."
Serana began to explain. "My Father... well, he wasn't always like that, until he found out about a prophecy called "The Tyranny of the Sun"."
"Sounds like some serious exposition," Patches said. "What's it about?"
"No one really knows the full details, but it goes something like this: "When Dragons return in the age of war and death, and the Age of Dark draws near, the Sun shall be forever darkened by the poisoned arrow, and darkness shall reign supreme.""
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Subaru groaned.
"What does the "Poisoned Arrow" mean?" Erik asked.
"I'm not too sure, it was always rather vague," Serana explained.
"Probably just prophetic mumbo-jumbo," the Japanese man said.
Sieglinde shook her head. "Somehow, I doubt that."
"Like I said, no one knows the full details, but it does have something to do with this." Serana explained as she pulled out the Elder Scroll behind her.
"Oooh, something valuable!" Patches gasped.
As the bald Undead approached the scroll, Serana said, "If you try to read it, it will melt your brain and turn you into a mentally deranged toddler. Or just kill you."
"Nevermind!" Patches immediately backed away from it.
Solaire nodded. "I've heard about them. Not just anyone can read an Elder Scroll."
"Can I give it a crack?" Subaru asked.
Emilia gasped. "Subaru, No!"
"What? I've done worse!" The otherworldly Undead argued.
Solaire also was concerned. "And how would…" He had to look at Serana, Oscar, and Isran, and realize he couldn't say her name. "... your lover feel about it?"
"About reading a cursed scroll?"
"And not knowing what it could do to you?" Solaire asked. "What if it leaves lasting mental damage, impairing your ability to complete your mission?"
Subaru realized Solaire might be right, and he couldn't risk mental damage. "You're right… It's way too risky. Well, it is for me, anyway. Buuut…"
Patches grabs the Scroll out of Serana's hands "Fine, I'll test run it."
"I was actually gonna say Reid," Subaru grumbled.
"Yeah, well he ain't here right now."
"Fine, fine! Knock yourself out!"
Patches merely laughed at the notion. "Please! It's a damn scroll! What's the worst that could happen?"
Patches opens the scrolls, as it emits an almost blinding light which causes everyone in the room to cover their eyes, with strange symbols only Patches could see. After ten seconds, Patches drops the scroll as it closes up on its own.
"So, how'd it go?" Subaru casually asked.
"UrAbUs, I t'NoD lEeF oS dOoG…"
Patches mumbled something the others couldn't understand, as he fell backwards and crumbled into ash. While everyone else was horrified, Subaru was pretty calm.
"Yeah, I'll take that as a "no" from you," the nasty-eyed Undead said.
Seiglinde was the first to speak. "Is... he gonna be okay?"
Subaru sighed. "I'll go pick him up from whatever bonfire he set himself up from last time."
As Subaru went to pick up Patches, the others continued the conversation.
"So, now you know why not just anyone can read an Elder Scroll," Serana said.
"What sort of person would we need in order to read this scroll then?" Siegmeyer asked.
Solaire thought about it for a few seconds before remembering something. "A Moth Priest, I believe."
Sieglinde gave the sun-loving knight a funny look. "Did I… hear that right?"
Solaire explained further. "They're priests from Cyrodiil on Tamriel. They've been searching for Elder Scrolls for many years, and they are the most knowledgeable on them."
"Sounds like a long way away," the female onion knight said.
Isran interjected. "Not exactly. They have a base of operations in Kararagi, and have been scouring both continents for Elder Scrolls."
"We'll need a fast way to get there."
Erik, however, had an idea. "Or... we bring one to us."
"Oh?" That, gained Aela's interest. "Do you have an idea, Erik?"
"So, Moth Priests are looking for Elder Scrolls, right? Well, what if we put out rumors saying one's been found?"
Serana started to see what Erik was getting at. "You want to use it as bait."
Erik nodded. "And since the Scroll will be here, it's unlikely the Vampires will be willing to storm a Castle full of Vampire hunters just to get it."
Aela couldn't help but compliment Erik's creativity. "Erik, you brilliant man!"
Erik couldn't help but blush a bit. "Heh, thanks."
"Get a room… you two…"
Everyone turned around to see that Subaru had come back with a very much alive Patches, to the disappointment of some. "So, I guess that plan is a go?" Subaru asked.
"Indeed," Isran said. "We'll need to start spreading rumors. Aela, you and Erik go to the Companions to get the word out."
Erik nodded. "Oh, yeah! Sure thing!"
Isran looked to his second-in-command. "Oscar, let the other members of the Dawnguard know what our plan is, and tell them to be on the look for a Moth Priest. In the meantime, I need to get some old allies together."
Oscar gave his superior a salute. "Yes, sir!"
"As for the rest of you, keep an eye on her." Isran commanded, gesturing towards Serana.
"Gee, thanks for making me feel welcome," Serana said with obvious sarcasm. "I can already feel the camaraderie from where I'm sitting."
"Shut up…" Patches groaned. "My head hurts thanks to your stupid scroll…"
As Isran leaves, the others do what they're told. Aela and Erik head to Whiterun, while Oscar informs the other Dawnguard members.
Looks like they had a plan to put into action.
It had been a couple days since rumors of the discovery of an Elder Scroll had been scattered around Skyrim, and everyone was on the lookout for a Moth Priest.
Two Whiterun guards were staring at what was essentially a wanted poster for an Elder Scroll, with a massive bounty below it the mugshot-esque drawing.
"Oi. What do you make of it?" the first Whiterun guard asked.
"I don't know. Sounds like hogwash to me," his partner replied.
"Maybe. But if it is real, whoever finds that thing will be a very rich man."
"Yeah, but I bet it's just a bandit plan to lure people in and steal their loot. I'm not falling for it."
"All right, whatever you say, man," the first guard laughed.
As the two Whiterun guards walked away, Erik and Aela were listening close by.
"Ugh... this is gonna be harder than I thought…" Erik groaned.
"Hey, you signed up for this, didn't you?" Aela asked.
"Yeah, but I thought it would make it more obvious finding a Moth whatever!"
"These things take time," the disguised werewolf said. "And patience."
Erik looked down a bit. "Well, time's not really on our side…"
"Then let's be a bit more proactive." Aela suggested.
Erik raised an eyebrow at that. "How so?"
Aela punched her open palm. "By spreading the word even more!"
"But... wouldn't it make it more obvious we were trying to lure someone in?
"Not if we're in the right environment," Aela said, her smile smug.
The novice adventurer asked, "What do you have in mind?"
"The Companions can help spread the word of the Elder Scroll, or at least help us find one. I'm sure Farkas or Vilkas wouldn't mind."
"Eh, it's better than nothing I guess…"
"What about you? You must have some ideas floating around that head of yours."
Erik thought about it for a minute, thinking on who best to go to. "Maybe the College of Winterhold would have some insight about it? We can talk to Emilia and J'zargo."
Aela nodded and smiled. "See? Getting better already."
"Now... we gotta get back there." Erik sweat dropped at the fact they have to go back all the way back to Fort Dawnguard. By foot. Oh, his feet were gonna be screaming in bloody murder.
Emilia was practicing her use of Universal Magic once again, and was focused on conjuring a "Frost Atronach", with Subaru and J'zargo overseeing her.
"Remember, it's just like summoning Bound Weapons," the cat-like demi-human told the silver-haired half-elf. "Imagine it appearing, and it shall."
Emilia nodded, saying "Right," as she concentrated a little more, and…
With a burst of Mana, a golem of ice manifested out of violet rift, before walking up to and standing by Emilia.
Emilia jumped up and down in joy. "Yay! I did it!"
J'zargo nodded approvingly. "Now, you can command it to do whatever you desire."
"Umm…" Emilia thought it over a bit, before saying, "High five?"
Emilia raised her hand, while the golem merely looked as confused as it could express, before it raised one of its arms in a similar position to its master.
Emilia then lightly tapped the Atronach's raised arm with her own, making a high five.
Subaru let out a low whistle, as he watched all of this unfold. "You know, seeing it now, I think I missed out on learning Universal Magic."
J'zargo chuckled. "Indeed."
"Are you sure you don't want to start learning now?" Emilia asked her friend.
Subaru shook his head. "Eh, it seems more like yours and J'zargo's thing. Besides, I already have two other Magic systems already. Learning a third seems a bit unnecessary."
Emilia then put a finger to her chin. "Now that I think about it... why did you decide to learn Soul Magic over Universal Magic?"
Subaru merely shrugged. "Probably because I was cosplaying as such a big edgelord back then. Like, that one guy who was always rambling on about embracing shadows."
Emilia giggled a bit. "Oh, so you wanted to go for the darker magic to make you seem like an emo. Or was it a goth? Maybe punk? Actually, aren't they all the same thing?"
Subaru gave the half-elf an incredulous look. "Patches taught you those words, didn't he? I know I certainly didn't."
A nod from Emilia was all it took for Subaru to sigh.
Subaru groaned, before asking, "What else did he teach you?"
Emilia tried to recall what she was told about Subaru. " That you used to be a... "Shut-in gamer"... whatever that is."
Subaru looked at her suspiciously. "And absolutely nothing else?"
"Something about your birthday being on a day of pranks?" That was all Emilia had at the moment.
Subaru smacked his forehead at that. "Right, that."
"And I think that's it."
Subaru let out a small, "Oh, thank God," in response to that.
Emilia started smirking, looking to tease Subaru. "Is there something you don't want me to know?"
"Literally everything about me," the former Great Sage snapped back.
J'zargo merely sighed in annoyance at the interaction. "Perhaps we should call it a day."
"Yeah, good call." Subaru agreed with the cat-like man.
Emilia nodded, as she remembered where else she needed to be. "Okay, I need to get on my Shout training."
"I'll walk you to Odahviing." Subaru said, accompanying Emilia.
Subaru and Emilia walked to the nearby Waterfall where Odahviing was resting.
While also talking in his sleep, Odahviing was heard… snoring? That was something that they didn't expect from an ageless dragon.
"Huh, and I thought only Volc snored like that," the Japanese man said.
"Does he also speak in his sleep?" Emilia asked.
"Sometimes," the nasty-eyed Undead said.
Their talking woke Odahviing up, and he immediately took notice of their presence. "Mmm… huh? Oh… you're here. Good."
"HI, Odah. I'm here for Shout training."
Odahviing yawned a bit before saying, "Excellent. Let us begin."
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" the black-haired Undead asked.
"First, you must strengthen your throat, so that you may use the Thu'um without delay."
Emilia immediately paled at that. "Oh... so a lot of shouting."
Odahviing nodded. "Yes. You will keep shouting again and again until your throat begins to strain."
Emilia sighed before clearing your throat. "Alright, here we go…"
The half-elf Dovahkiin took a deep breath before shouting, "FUS RO DAH!"
Subaru sighed, as he sat on the grass. "Guess we'll be here for a while…"
After a while, Emilia's throat began to strain, and she had to catch her breath.
"Have you reached your limit? Are you unable to continue?" The Dovah asked.
"No…" Emilia refused, while still panting. "I can keep going…"
Odahviing nodded at Emilia's determination. She truly was Dovahkiin. "Very well, then."
Subaru, who had left momentarily, came back with a cup of water for Emilia. "Here you go, Emilia-tan. It's not an instant cure-all, but you'll at least feel a little better."
"Thank you… Subaru…" Emilia immediately took the cup and chugged the whole thing. Once she was done, she turned to Odahviing, ready to continue.
"Now, we shall focus on a more defensive Thu'um: Become Ethereal. You take on a spectral appearance, and become nisahraan. Invulnerable to all attacks." The Dragon explained.
That sounded really nice to Emilia. "Oooh…"
"Oh yeah, I remember this one. Solaire said that if you tried to attack during this power, it would cancel prematurely," the black-haired Undead said.
Emilia nodded as she remembered that. "Oh, yeah, he did say that."
Odahviing continued regardless. "The first word of this Thu'um is "Feim", meaning "Fade". Feel as though you are fading away from the world, away from all that troubles you."
"Okay…" Emilia inhaled and exhaled a few times before readying herself. "Pretend that everything's fading away... pretend that all your worries are fading away."
All of Emilia's worries, all the troubles, trials, hardships, and heartbreaks she's had to endure throughout her life ran through her mind. Elior Forest, Aunt Fortuna and Guese, Pandora, Freezing Elior, losing Puck, Paarthurnax leaving, running away to Gusteko, meeting all her new friends... Subaru's past and eventual end. Now, she imagined all of them washing away in a great mist.
With but a whisper, Emilia uttered the word. "Feim…"
Speaking the word, Emilia's body changed entirely, becoming spectral in appearance. She took on a light blue, ghostly form.
Subaru's eyes widened in amazement. "Whoa…"
Odahviing couldn't help but be impressed at his student's fast learning, even as Dragonborn. "While in this state, nothing can harm you, but in turn, you cannot harm others yourself."
"So, I'm essentially a ghost," Emilia summed it up.
"That is one way to perceive it."
"So, what have we learned, Patches?" Solaire said, his arms holding Patches up.
Patches, meanwhile, stared back at Solaire. "Not to make fun of the locals."
Solaire kept his arms up, as he kept staring and Patches. "And?"
"Not kick them into holes."
"Very good."
"Can you put me down now?" the bald Undead asked.
"Only if you promise to behave," the sun-loving knight said.
The thieving Undead remained silent.
Solaire kept staring down at him. "Patches...?"
Patches groaned in annoyance. "Just carry me back, please."
Serana couldn't help but look in disbelief. "Is he always like this?"
"I don't know. Subaru has known him the longest," the knight answered honestly.
"How long have you known them?" The Vampire princess asked.
"A couple months now."
Patches pitched in too. "He's the third one to join our little band 'ere."
"What place would you be?" Serena asked.
"I'm first, not counting Subaru and Emilia." Patches said proudly.
"Of course." Serana could understand the logic behind that.
Solaire looked to his Vampire friend. "Where to now?"
Serana looked at the time, and it was almost night time. "Back to the base. We're done for today. We've caused enough trouble as is."
Serana stretched her arms before getting ready. "Well, let's not keep the gang waiting."
"How are the swords coming, Andre?" Siegmeyer asked.
"Almost ready," the centuries-old blacksmith answered.
"Okay, So Vampires are weak to Silver and Fire, so we need one or the other."
"Hm. I'll make note of that," Andre said, as he kept smithing.
Seigmeyer thought about it for a second. "What about… silver Swords that can ignite on fire?"
Sieglinde beamed at her father's brilliant suggestion. "Ooh! That is a grand idea, father!"
"I'll see what I can do, but no promises," Andre said.
Author's Note: And so, another apocalypse has shown up! What are the odds?
(Okay, so the Elder Scrolls have now been introduced. Given that Bethesda named their entire series after them, you can bet they're important right now. So,the group needs to find a Moth Priest to read the scroll in order to find out what the Vampires want and how to stop them.) Well, now that that's all been explained, here are the comments!
5queso: It's cool, I'm sure you're busy. And don't worry about notifications, there will always be a new chapter on Mondays, so you can just keep that in mind. Anyways, I'm glad you're enjoying the action scenes, those are always the hardest to do. I'm not sure what joke you're referring to, but whatever. Emilia sneaking is bound to return, and Subaru being worshiped is an idea that I will always get behind. Patches has screwed over a lot of people (as has Subaru), so you're bound to see more of that. Also, we'll keep teasing something between Aela and Erik until we finally get to Frederica and Otto; then we'll do both. See you next time, and remember, keep your head out of the gutter! (Yeah, we aren't stepping into the 18+ stuff. That's reserved for off-screen.)
Kifhjoofff: Sí, Emilia es un poco más inteligente aquí que en el canon.
sunny_sunny_sunny_12: I'm not gonna answer any of that due to spoilers.
Anyways, back to the regular old shilling…
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Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!
- Ernalore & Infinite the Celestian