Chapter 24: Forgotten No More
"Nine hundred ninety-eight… nine hundred ninety-nine… and… one thousand." Subaru was counting his steps, trying to take his mind off the aching his feet was feeling.
Patches, meanwhile, was miserable, and made sure to let everyone know he was miserable. "Ugh... how many more years until the elevator gets invented?"
Oscar was not very tired, as he was used to such pain. "What is an... "elevator"?."
"A machine designed to lift people up," Subaru said. "Think of those pulleys, but for people."
"I've never heard of such an invention," Oscar said, climbing back up the stairs.
Patches scoffed. "That's because you're from the north. Innovation doesn't exist up there."
"Well... he's not entirely wrong," Erik said, clearly losing breath.
"One thousand and eight… one thousand and nine… one thousand and ten…"
"What are they counting?" Aela asked.
"The number of steps," J'zargo said.
Solaire merely sighed, continuing to look down.
"What's with the disappointed sigh?" Siegmeyer asked. "You're usually so cheerful."
Solaire shook his head. "I... don't know. I suppose that I've been... looking at myself, you could say. I've been trying to find my purpose again, and after hearing Subaru's past and his purpose... I can't help but feel... empty… Hollow."
The onion knight stared at him, silently.
"I'm sure I'll find a new purpose... but I fear what will happen if it does not come soon enough."
"I won't let that happen," Siegmeyer said with determination.
Solaire smiled at the Onion knight. "Thank you, my friend."
Sieglinde groaned, "Ahh… agh… ugh…"
Solaire and Seigmeyer turn back to see Sieglinde with her hands on her knees, gasping for air.
"How… can you all… do this…?" Sieglinde asked, gasping for air.
"I lived in the woods for the past seven years, so I've grown accustomed to it," Emilia said.
Subaru shrugged. "I'm used to the pain."
"J'zargo can use magic to levitate and reduce stamina consumption," The Kahjiit explained.
"Positive mental attitude," Patches smiled.
"I've been training for years. This is nothing," Oscar said, keeping the real answer hidden.
"I'm actually in quite a bit of pain..." Erik groaned a bit.
Aela raised an eyebrow. "Did that Stamina training do you no good, Erik?"
"I think it did, which is concerning."
Patches started smirking and snickering. ""Stamina training", you say?"
"Do you want to restart your count?" Aela hissed.
Patches wisely did not say anything as he kept walking.
"That's what I thought," the werewolf smirked.
"Looks like we're here," Emilia said.
"FINALLY! ONE THOUSAND AND TWENTY-SIX! ABOUT DAMN TIME!"
"I wonder why they call it the "Seven thousand steps"..." Solaire wondered.
"It's probably just an exaggeration," Erik said.
Once they arrived at High Hrothgar, Emilia knocked on the door and after a few moments, it opened to reveal Arngeir.
Arngeir smiled at the sight, and bowed. "Welcome back, Young Dragonborn."
Emilia bowed. "Hello, Arngeir."
Looking at the group behind her, Arngeir said, "I sense this is no ordinary visit for training."
"Right you are!" Subaru said, doing his classic finger point. "Things have changed."
Arngeir nodded. "Then let us discuss this inside."
Inside the great mountain hall…
"Odahviing already explained the encounter you had. A Witch that was aware of the very nature of our universe, or universes in this case," Arngeir said, as the group walked in.
"So, what's the game plan now?" Patches asked.
"Arngeir, are there any other Shouts that can help us stop Pandora?" Emilia asked.
Arngeir thought about it for a second. "A Shout that can counter the ability to command reality itself? Hmm… that's a difficult request…"
"Or that can permanently kill Pandora," Subaru added, his hopeful expression a bit concerning.
"That might be even harder," Arngeir said with a perplexed expression.
After thinking for a bit, something did come to Arngeir's mind.
"As much as I would dislike sharing this with you…" the old man slowly said. "I suppose the three Forbidden Shouts would be most helpful in this endeavor."
Aela's eyebrow was raised. "Forbidden?"
Arngeir nodded. "Indeed. Shouts that are forbidden or, more accurately, forgotten by Dragonkind. They are some of the most potent Shouts to ever be conceived."
"Oooh, how mysterious," Patches "oohed."
"The first is "Dragon Aspect". It's said to grant a Dragonborn the strength and power of a normal Dragon," the old man said, pulling out a dusty old scroll from beneath the table.
Erik's eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh, that sounds awesome! Can you teach Emilia the words?!"
"Unfortunately, we will not be able to teach you this shout, or the other two," Arngeir said, shaking his head in confirmation that, yes, trying to learn these shouts was impossible.
Emilia was downtrodden. "Huh? Why not?"
"Because the words have been long forgotten. There were no known records left behind of the words used to manifest these shouts." The Greybeard explained.
"Well, that was a bust," Subaru griped.
"Odahviing would not know either. Dragon Aspect can only be used by Dragonborns, as the power is worthless on an actual Dragon, and the other two shouts never made themselves public knowledge."
"Then why even bring it up?" J'zargo asked.
"Although slim, it may be possible that you could come by these Words of Power on your travels. I and the other Greybeards will dedicate ourselves to finding any possible indications where these words can be found," Arngeir explained.
"Oh, thank you for that," Solaire said.
"Well, what are the other two shouts?" Emilia asked.
Arngeir continued his explanation to his listening audience. "The next Shout is Soul Tear. It rips someone's soul right out of their body."
"Wow. Now that's edgy as hell," Subaru said.
Emilia looked towards her friend. "Subaru... do you think that could work on Pandora?"
Subaru thought about it for a second. "I seriously hope it can. As far as I know, she's never had her soul ripped out of her body."
"The final shout is... arguably the most evil of them all," Arngeir said with a grave tone.
"Worse than soul-ripping?" Siegmeyer asked.
Arngeir nodded. "It is called... "Bend Will"."
"Who's Will?" Patches jokes, only to get smacked again.
Arngeir ignored Patches and continued. "When used, it allows the user to enforce their will on others, bypassing all mental resistances, and making the affected completely loyal to the user."
"A brainwashing power," Subaru summed up.
Arngeir grimly nodded. "Precisely."
Patches snickered a bit. "Something straight out of a h—" the Undead didn't finish as he got smacked upside the head again.
"Please, keep your mouth shut." The Werewolf growled in annoyance.
Emilia, meanwhile, had an idea. "Wait... so if I were to use Bend Will on Pandora... then she would become loyal to me?"
"Would you truly wish that on her?" Arngeir questioned, but Emilia was undeterred.
"Considering all the awful stuff she's done, she deserves far worse."
"I can vouch for that." Subaru pitched in, "She's the real reason the Great Calamity happened, and she's the true leader of the Witch Cult. So yeah, this would be her getting off easy."
"Then yes, it should work," the Greybeard took into account what they said, and agreed.
"We need to find out how to use this Shout, ASAP," Subaru said.
"I agree with your party leader," Oscar said.
"Now what?" Erik asked.
"My best idea? Multitask," Subaru answered. "Kill some vamps, find the Shouts, all from the comfort of a new headquarters."
Oscar nodded at that. "Then, we shall make our way to Fort Dawnguard."
"Welp, y'all heard the crusader."
"Voice be with you, Dragonborn," Arngier bowed, wishing them luck.
Emilia bowed in turn. "Voice be with you, too."
After leaving High Hrothgar, the group began to make their way to Fort Dawnguard on the other side of Riften. After however long it took for them to get there, they passed through a short cave before exiting to an area with a large castle sitting next to a mountainside.
"Huh. Nice digs you got here," Patches smiled.
Subaru had to silently agree on that front.
The castle was huge. Not as big as the Royal Castle in the capital of Lugnica, but this place was indeed bigger than the Roswaal Mansion. Massive column-esque walls all over, with the coloration and texture of bricks used to build the Great Wall of China back on Earth, and a wilderness of golden trees surrounding it in the foreground, this place was niiiiice.
"Thank you," Oscar said. "We've only recently begun rebuilding, but soon we'll be back to our former glory."
"Rebuilding? Some kind of attack?" Aela asked.
Oscar shook his head. "No. I believe it merely disbanded after a while, but with the recent Vampiric activities, we had no choice but to reform."
Subaru understood it. "Ah, a revival party."
"Let's head inside," Oscar said.
A few minutes later…
The group headed inside and saw a Redguard man wearing silver armor come up to them.
"I see you've returned, Oscar. With what I assume to be new recruits in tow." The man said.
Oscar nodded. "Something like that, yes."
"My name is Isran, I assume you know why you're here."
"Umm… to slay some Vampires?" Solaire asked.
Isran nodded. "Indeed. We welcome anyone willing to join, so long as they're able to hold their own in a fight."
Everyone looks at Erik.
Erik was suddenly getting nervous. "What?"
J'zargo chuckled a bit. "Nothing."
"If you need weaponry, we have plenty to go around. Vampires aren't fond of Silver, so we use that as a key ingredient in most of our weapons."
Subaru and Patches looked toward Aela.
Now, Aela was getting kind of nervous. "What?"
"You're a werewolf, correct?" Patches pointed out.
Aela sighed. "I'm well aware of the implications regarding my blessing and silver."
Subaru turned back. "Cool, cool, just checking."
"Does anyone need weapons and armor?" Oscar asked.
Erik shrugged. "I dunno, maybe I could…?"
Aela grabbed Erik's hand and dragged him along. "Let's take a look."
Erik merely sighed and blushed a bit. "Whatever you say."
"I think the rest of us are good with what we got," Subaru told the leader of the Dawnguard.
Oscar, meanwhile, shrugged. "Suit yourselves."
"You said Vampires are also weak to Fire, so me and Subaru should be fine," Emilia said.
Siegmeyer hummed over it for a bit. "I could use a silver sword…"
"We have Silver Axes," Oscar offered him.
"Do you have a blacksmith?" The Onion knight asked.
Oscar nodded. "We do."
"I'll ask for a sword there." Siegmeyer said as he walked off.
Oscar shrugged. "Suit yourself. Anyone else?"
"I'll follow my friend on this one," Solaire said.
"J'zargo is fine with Magic," the cat said.
Sieglinde shrugged. "Ehh, I could try some axes."
"They are the one-handed kind," Oscar said.
"Great, I can dual-wield them!" she said.
Everyone split up, exploring the castle and getting new equipment.
"Which way to the blacksmith?" Solaire asked.
Oscar gestured down the hall. "Follow me."
The knights followed, heading to a room where a short and beefy man with a long white beard worked on his craft.
"Excuse me," Siegmeyer called out to him. The Blacksmith turned around to greet them.
"Ah, a new face. Hello there."
"Hello, I'm here to make a request."
The blacksmith nodded. "A busy man, I see."
"What might your name be?" Solaire asked.
"I am Andre of Astora. An Undead who has dedicated themselves to the craft." Andre introduced himself.
"Astora?" The older of the two onion knights turned back to Solaire. "Isn't that —?"
"Where I'm from? Yes."
"So, what can I do for you?" Andre asked the two knights.
"We'd like some silver swords, please. Oh, and a couple of axes, too." Seigmeyer requested.
"I see. One-handed or two-handed?"
"One-handed, please," Solaire requested.
Andre nodded. "Coming right up. It'll take me a while to get this done, so take it easy for a while."
"Trust me, my father can do that," Sieglinde said.
Andre raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're a Blacksmith too?"
"No, I'm just an old man," Siegmeyer chuckled.
Andre chuckled in turn. "Oh, my mistake."
"No harm done, friend," Siegmeyer said.
Back with Subaru and Emilia…
Subaru noticed the Half-Elf's expression, and expression he used to wear all too often.
"So, what's eating you?" Subaru asked.
"... Have you ever felt like something's dangling right in front of you, but you just can't get it?" Emilia asked her friend.
"Every day for the last four centuries, and maybe even before that," he answered honestly.
"Well, that's how I feel right now," she said.
Subaru nodded his head. "Mm. Big mood."
"There might be shouts that can stop Pandora for good... but we have no idea what the words are."
"With good reason. I mean, imagine if some bad guy knew about them," Subaru joked.
"Yeah... I can see why they're forbidden."
"Don't worry, we'll find them," he reassured her.
Emilia wasn't convinced. "Still... something's bothering me... something Pandora said."
Subaru gave the Half-Elf a questioning look. "Just one thing she said?"
Emilia's face scrunched a bit as she rephrased. "Well, one thing more than the others."
"Mm, what?" Subaru asked.
"Well... we know that she knows that this is a combined Universe... but she said it was "different" than the world she knew…"
"Well, she probably came from one of the three this place is made of," Subaru said.
"So... she's been around since before this Universe came to be?" Emilia asked.
Subaru thought about it for a minute. "I mean, if dragons can…"
"Dragons are one thing, but Pandora... even if she's immortal, how could she have come to our universe?" the amethyst-eyed girl asked.
"My advice is to take everything she says with a grain of salt. A big grain," Subaru said.
Emilia nodded. "I see…"
Now, their new adventure as Vampire hunters began.
Author's Note: I don't know what joke to make here. Infinite? (The Skyrim simps are coming…) I have no idea what that means, and I'm too afraid to ask.
For those of you with good eyes, you may have noticed that the Dawnguard's blacksmith, Andre of Astora, is the same blacksmith from the first Dark Souls game. (Okay, so given we are entering the Dawnguard arc, a lot of you know who's coming.) If this is related to the previous joke, Imma gonna keep my mouth shut. Anyways, comments time!
5queso: Okay, yeah, so I just now noticed the typo. I'm a bit too busy right now to change it, and even if I did, the memory of it would linger. Plus, it was in the previous chapter's notes, so it's not that big of a deal. The ending of the story is still a long way to go, we haven't even acted it out. I'm sure there will be more Henry Stickman references. I've actually never played CS:GO, but I do understand basic memes.
Jaymezians: Vampires are pretty powerful, but they're still pretty killable. If there was a group that actually deserves to be nerfed, it would be the Daedric Princes.
Kifhjoofff: Lo sentimos, ¡no hay caza de vampiros en este capítulo! ¿Tal vez la próxima vez?
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- Ernalore & Infinite the Celestian