Chapter 31: Remnants of the Past
Thanks to J'zargo's Flight, both he and Emilia were able to make it back to Fort Dawnguard in only a few minutes, and inform the rest of their party about where to find the first Elder Scroll.
"So… a Lovecraftian horror told you about this… while at the same time, asking you for your undying allegiance?" Subaru tried to summarize.
"Well, the old man told us where to find the Scroll, while Hermeaous Mora... well, he offered everything we could want to know about how to stop Pandora and Alduin, and how to... finish your mission," Emilia tried to clarify.
Subaru quietly nodded. "I… see."
"Getting back on track, J'zargo knows where the entrance to Blackreach is," the cat-like demi-human told the others. "It is close to Winterhold, as we have visited on previous "School trips"."
"Well then, let us depart!" Solaire chanted.
"Well, we are splitting up. However, we don't know where the Second Scroll could be…"
"I do." Serana spoke up, catching the attention of the others. "I know it's with my Mother. She stole it from Father before she sealed me in that tomb, but the problem is... I have no idea where she would be hiding."
"Wouldn't the most obvious choice be somewhere your father would never go?" Oscar asked the former Vampire princess.
"Definitely, but I can't think of a single place he wouldn't look, and he's had all this time..." Serana said, uncertainty seeping into her voice.
"The beach?" Patches suggested. "Maybe the desert?"
Aela decided to think like a warrior to answer that question. Where would be the last place you would expect to see your enemy? Suddenly, her eyes widened in realization. "Home…"
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Erik asked.
Aela elaborated. "Where would be the last place you would expect to see your hated enemy? It would be at Home."
"So, what? You think that she's hiding in her ex-husband's basement?" Patches said.
Serana thought about it for a bit, and gasped as she remembered something. "Actually, Aela might be onto something. There's a garden in the courtyard that me and my Mother always tended to. My father could never stand the place, saying it was too "Peaceful". If there's anywhere Mother could be, it would be there."
"Hiding in a… garden?" Siegmeyer asked.
"Or somewhere nearby. The Castle has many areas that our family kept away from, and I doubt they would bother with it now."
"But how do we get there?" Oscar asked. "We still have to deal with who-knows how many Vampires patrolling the grounds."
Luckily, Serana had an answer. "There's a port on the side of the castle. The old owners used it to bring supplies via boat, but now it's all but abandoned. I know a way that will lead us to the Garden without having to go through the residents."
Patches' eyes brightened at that. "Hey, Subaru. Underwater level?"
Serana clarified. "It's not underwater, but we will have to go through the bowels of the Castle."
And just like that, the light was gone. "Oh. So no underwater level."
Subaru clapped his hands together. "Okay, so who's going with who?"
"Whoever goes with me should be good at sneaking around." Serana commented.
Sieglinde spoke up. "Me and Father aren't really the "sneaking" type, so we can go with J'zargo."
"Erik and I can go with Serana." Aela said, which brought a bit of dread to poor Erik.
"Then I will accompany the team heading to Blackreach," Solaire said.
"As will I," Oscar said.
Patches groaned, but chose the most logical option for his skill set. "Guess I'm going into Vampire sewers."
Emilia nodded. "That leaves me… and Subaru."
"Subaru, do you have any experience with Dwemer ruins?" The Sun Knight asked the Great Sage.
"Once or twice," the otherworldly Undead said.
"So, I should go with Serana?" the half-elf asked.
"Sure. If I'm counting it right, that would make an even number of teams."
Solaire looked around and counted. "Me, Subaru, Oscar, Seigmeyer, Sieglinde, and J'zargo, and Serana, Emilia, Erik, Aela, and 's eleven."
Subaru shrugged. "Okay, as even as we can get."
"Probably for the best. The fewer people sneaking into the castle, the better."
"Aight, then let's get going." Subaru said, ready for whatever they were walking into.
So, the two teams made their way to their destinations. Subaru cast an Al Shamak spell to Winterhold, while Emilia had Odahviing take them to the Castle Volkihar.
At Winterhold…
"Follow J'zargo and he will lead you to the entrance." The Khajiit instructed, as they let J'zargo guide them to the entrance.
"Lead the way, then," Sieglinde said.
As they were walking, Subaru began to think about the Dwemer. From what he knew, they were the most advanced civilization Nirn had ever seen, but they mysteriously disappeared over 600 years before he arrived on the planet. It was a mystery that stumped even the Great Sage. However, there was one thing about them he didn't understand. "So... the Dwemer were elves, right?"
The cat man nodded. "That is correct."
"Then why were they also called "Dwarves"? 'Cause in Earth's mythologies, Dwarves were basically little people that were miners and builders."
"Oh, I read about this. That name came from the Giants, who saw them as… well… small." Seigmeyer answered.
Subaru nodded at that. "Ah, that makes sense…"
"How many kinds of Elves are there?" Oscar asked.
"Well, besides the Dwarves, there's the High Elves from the Summerset Isles, the Dark Elves from Morrowind, the Wood Elves from Valenwood, the Snow Elves that originate here in Gusteko, and the Life Elves, which are descendants of a Snow Elf colony that intermingled with Wood Elves in Elior Forest." Subaru explained.
"So, Emilia's a Life Elf?" Sieglinde asked.
"Half of one, yeah," the Japanese man said.
"Life Elves are known for their long lifespans, some even able to live over a thousand years." Solaire commented, which explained Emilia's natural Longevity.
"While barely ever aging," the nasty-eyed Undead said.
J'zargo smirked. "Says the Immortal."
"Touché."
It wasn't long before the group found the entrance to the Dwarven ruins of Alftand.
Siegmeyer couldn't comprehend it. "Wha… what are we looking at?"
"The ruins of Alftand. We need to go through them to get to Blackreach." J'zargo answered.
"Well, it's a serious eyesore," Oscar blatantly said.
"t's been well over a thousand years since the Dwemer have been around to care for it, so time and decay has caught up to it." Solaire commented, noting the worn down appearance of the structure.
"I meant the architecture itself."
Subaru kept looking at the ruins, and the design felt… familiar. "Actually... the aesthetic looks like… steampunk."
Sieglinde was unfamiliar with the term. "Steampunk?"
"Yeah, it's an asthetic style that's similar to how parts of my world looked in the 19th century." Subaru explained, continuing to admire the structures.
"With odd… machines?" Siegmeyer asked.
"Yep. They were steam powered, which is actually just like Dwarven machinery."
J'zargo tried to wrap his head around it. "Powered by… heated water?"
The Chosen Undead nodded. "Yep. It's actually really remarkable that your world was able to do something like over a thousand years ago. I'm also very surprised that the Hoshin Trading Company hasn't tried to do anything with Dwemer Artifacts. Although, with the War going on, it's probably not the best idea…"
"How did we lose such knowledge?" Sieglinde asked.
"The Dwarves never bothered to share their knowledge, so when they disappeared, all their knowledge went with them," Solaire guessed. "All that remains of their once great civilization is the ruins and machinery they left behind."
"If I had enough data, maybe I could reverse-engineer their work, but that would take time. Time that we don't have," the nasty-eyed Undead said.
"The old man said that even the dumbest Dwemer was leagues smarter than him," J'zargo said. "It would take you decades, if not centuries to learn what you needed."
"More than enough time for me. Besides, I have experience from Technology thanks to my Homeworld."
"Let's see about stopping you from sacrificing yourself, and then we'll see about you starting our world's Industrial Revolution," Solaire joked a bit.
Subaru smirked at that. "Right, right. Let's go in."
The party makes their way through the Dwemer ruins, with Subaru and J'zargo using their fire magic to keep themselves warm.
"Anything up ahead?" Oscar asked.
J'zargo uses Detect Life, but nothing besides his comrades came up. "J'zargo does not sense anything up ahead. Nothing alive that is."
"Still can't see anything," Siegmeyer said.
Subaru held up his hand. "Hang on... I think I hear something."
Subaru snuck ahead and saw... robots? Both were golden and in a steampunk style. Two of them resembled bugs or spiders with multiple legs and one body, while the other one was more humanoid with its "legs" connected to a sphere that allowed it to roll around.
"Okay, that's just awesome," the Japanese man whispered.
Seiglinde was confused by what they were seeing. "What is it?
Subaru looked back at the others. Right, they would have no idea what robots were. He needed to explain it in their terms. "We've got, um… golems."
J'zargo raised an eyebrow. "Golems?"
"Inanimate figures brought to "life," so to speak," Suabru explained.
Solaire, meanwhile, knew what Subaru was saying between the lines. "Got it, something you know about that hasn't been invented yet for us."
"Yeah. In most cases, they're created either using machinery or magic."
"Well, how should we beat them?" Oscar asked.
"Hold on, I wanna try something first. Maybe they can be reasoned with."
The sun-loving knight shrugged his shoulders. "Wouldn't hurt to try."
"Right," the nasty-eyed man said, turning the corner. Here goes nothing.
"Excuse me!" Subaru called out to the machines. "Yes, hello there, hi! I come in peace, I'm unarmed, and I'm lost. Could either of you perhaps tell me where I am?"
The Robots immediately take notice of Subaru's presence, and begin to observe him for a few seconds, not saying a word. It didn't take long before they pulled out tasers and weapons and began to attack.
Subaru began to fall back. "Not friendly! Definitely not friendly!"
"Because of course they aren't!" Siegmeyer shouted sarcastically.
"Aim for the joints!" Subaru shouted, as he dodged the machines' attacks. "Don't hit the body too hard! I might come back and salvage them later!"
Oscar tried using his Wind Magic, but unfortunately it didn't have much effect.
Siegmeyer and Sieglinde, meanwhile, rushed the living machines, keeping their attention on them, while trying not to damage them
After observing them, Oscar noticed something about the Robots. "Wait, they're made of Gold!"
"Gold? Gold…" Subaru's lightbulb went off. "GOLD! SOLAIRE!"
Solaire turned to his friend. "Yes?!"
"Use your Lightning Spear!"
Solaire looked surprised. "Are you sure?!"
"Wait!" Subaru looked over to Siegmeyer and Sieglinde and yelled out to them, "Get away from them!"
WHAM!
The two Onion Knights knock the robots away, before falling back.
"Okay, now!"
Nodding, the knight shouted, "LIGHTNING SPEAR!"
KRAKLE!
Instantly, electricity engulfed the machines, short-circuiting and deactivating them.
Seigmeyer couldn't help but be confused. "What just happened?"
"Gold is an extremely conducive metal. You basically overloaded them with electricity," Subaru said, inspecting them. "And not a scratch. Nice!"
Oscar looked pleased with the results, even if that wasn't what he was going for. "I was going to suggest we melt them with high temperatures, but that works too."
Subaru merely gave Oscar a look best described as "insulted."
"What?" the knight asked. "Gold has a low melting point."
"I would say something along the lines of, "I said I wanted them undamaged," but our lives are more important, so whatever. Good job all around."
J'zargo commented. "Still, we can utilize Shock Magic to leave them undamaged, so you can come back and do what you want with them later."
"Great! J'zargo, take the lead," Subaru ordered.
J'zargo nodded. "Will do."
The party continued exploring the labyrinth of ancient technology, deactivating any machines they came across, for quite a while, always searching for the end. Finally, they came across a strange room that contained a small... table? Platform? The Party didn't know what to call it.
"Subaru, what are we looking at?" Solaris asked.
"Probably where we're supposed to go," the otherworldly man said, inspecting the walls. "I guess we need to push a button or find a lever?"
Sieglinde looked around for some kind of device that would open a secret path. "Maybe there's one on the walls?"
J'zargo took a closer look at the table, and saw a circular indent... like something was supposed to go there. He took out the orb that the old mage gave to him and inserted it into the hole. Suddenly, the floor began to sink, revealing a stairway down.
"Oh. It was a keyhole. Cool."
J'zargo looked to the others and said, "Shall we?"
Siegmeyer went through first. "I'll take the lead."
Seigmeyer took the lead, and entered a steampunk style elevator of all things, causing Subaru to gasp in excitement.
"Holy crap, they exist!"
"What does?" Oscar asked, not understanding Subaru's excitement.
"Elevators! They do exist! The Dwarves thought of everything!"
Siegmeyer gave him a funny look. "Everything, everything?"
Subaru shrugged. "Well, I don't know about everything, but you gotta admit this is impressive!"
J'zargo had to agree. "True, this is quite convenient."
Seiglinde nodded as this was much easier to get up or down. "Definitely convenient."
"Where do you think we're going?" the bucket-helmeted knight asked.
Right as Subaru said those words, the elevator stopped and the doors opened to quite the sight. It was a massive cave that contained more Dwarven ruins and glowing plant life all throughout the area. Words honestly couldn't do the sight justice.
"It's… like an underground paradise…" Oscar commented, basking in the sight of Blackreach.
Seiglinde couldn't help but nod. "It's... beautiful."
Her father nodded, as he went inside. "Let's take a close look."
The Party go deeper into the cave, and begin to try and find out where to go.
"J'zargo, can you smell anything?" Subaru asked.
"J'zargo has no idea which way to go."
Subaru gave him a funny look. "Not even with magic?"
The cat was silent for a second. "Actually... J'zargo almost forgot this spell."
J'zargo casts a Clairvoyance spell, which creates an invisible line only he could see. He quickly began to follow the line.
"Follow J'zargo." The party quietly follows behind the cat.
Subaru speaks up. "What spell are you using?"
"Clairvoyance." J'zargo answered, "It allows one to create an invisible line to their destination, excellent for tracking or just finding something you lost."
The party continue to follow J'zargo, which leads them to another Elevator.
"Guess we're going down again." The group sighed a bit. At least they didn't have to use stairs.
One Elevator ride later, and the party makes their way to an... observatory room?
"That's quite a lot of windows," Siegmeyer said.
"I don't think they're windows," Subaru corrected the Onion Knight. "We must be thousands of feet underground, so there is probably something else…"
"Then… what's behind the glass?"
"I don't think that's what we need to worry about." Subaru points to a weird machine made up of multiple mechanical "arms" at the ceiling.
Solaire jumped in surprise. "What the hell is that?!"
Subaru just looked deadpanned because the Machine didn't look threatening, just weird. "I'm gonna assume this is because you guys have never seen machinery before."
"Well, what is it?!" Oscar asked.
"Well, it has crystals at the ends, so I guess they're used for focusing light or something like that," the tracksuit-wearing Undead guessed.
That got J'zargo's attention. "Focusing light? What for?"
Subaru notices a platform overlooking the room with multiple buttons, and walks up to it. He tries to use the buttons, but nothing happens.
"Hmm… maybe it needs power?" Subaru asked himself, before saying his head. "No, wait… J'zargo, did that old guy give you anything else?
The demi-human inspected his pockets, as everyone watched him pull out the Dwemer cube he received from Septimus.
"Another key, I'm guessing?" Solaire said.
J'zargo nodded, as he tossed the cube to Subaru. "Try it out."
Subaru hummed in agreement, as he placed the cube in what he noticed was a receptacle.
CLICK-WOOM…
The cube's outer casing then split apart, but it didn't look broken. Not to mention the symbols started to glow blue, so that was probably a sign that it was working.
Subaru smiled. "Oh, yeah. Now we're cooking."
It took a while, but after some fumbling with the buttons which moved the arms in different directions, Subaru finally figured it out, and an oval crystal came down from the ceiling and split open, revealing the Elder Scroll.
"Welp. Two down, one to go," Subaru said, grabbing the scroll.
"Let's hope the others are doing as good as we are," Sieglinde said.
Subaru couldn't help but think about the others. Especially Emilia.
"Yeah… let's."
Author's Note: I would insert a Star Wars joke here, but I like the Skyrim automatons too much to just have them say, "Roger-roger." Maybe Infinite can say something cool?
(Like what? Anyways, we've kind of introduced the Dwemer, and as we've made it clear, Subaru has no idea what happened to them. Even the Great Sage doesn't know how an entire species disappeared.) Alright, now it's time for this week's comments!
5queso: I personally don't know much about Mora, but the way Infinite described him to me made me feel put-off, too, so I guess that qualifies as a success. I am also somewhat regreeting using the word "sus" thanks to you now. Anyways, see you next time!
Kifhjoofff: Excelente comentario.
DelusionaryDon: We don't even know what will happen!
Jaymezians: Well, don't be too sure about that one. While Emilia might have not contracted with Mora this time, that doesn't mean she'll totally reject him again.
Loss_and_found: And right here is the best comment. You've figured out that Emilia is talking more to the Great Sage rather than Subaru Natsuki, a man who has spent the last four centuries remembering and bringing up his past as a form of self-punishment while next to the girl who looks like his wife. Also, your profile picture is just the cherry on top.
Anyways, back to the regular old shilling…
I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, /ErnaloreProf is the link.
If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules
Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!
- Ernalore & Infinite the Celestian