Skyrim: A Sorcerer's Tale

Chapter 439: Chapter LVIII: Come And Look Upon The Heart

The house welcomes Stephen Ruchert to their new (if wisely left vague) position outside the mines! The rest of the wretches should follow their example unto ascension from the pits but we understand that not all are as capable.

On a completely unrelated note do enjoy today's extra meal.

----------

In an instant, everyone except for Junior and myself are shoved outside the protective bubble, the very air within slowing down to a crawl before time itself seemed to stop.

No, it did not stop I realized as I used my third eye to look behind me and noticed Savos' expression ever so slowly twisting into a panicked fury as his Magicka went into full battle mode.

But I could not pay too much attention to his inevitably late reaction as the ash and dust of the once Heart of Lorkhan condensed just above the precipice of the mountain's very core.

The ash swirled around itself before with a soundless yet loud snap congealing into a figure, one I could not possibly fail to recognize as I found myself staring into a facsimile of the body of Dagoth Ur, dressed only in loincloth and mask and three triangular eyeholes glowing with contained power.

Did he seriously scry my fucking nickname just to catch me off guard? I expected better.

"Stunned, my descendant?" He asks with confident arrogance, though I do notice the slightest hint of shock at the fact I was still moving within his little time dilation spell "Unsurprising, you are gazing upon the visage of a God."

So that is how we are going to play this...

"Voryn." I greet him flatly, guess I could rant at him a bit before murdering his disgusting ass "I thought I might find you here."

"That name is useless to me now." He finally faces me, turning away from curiously staring at his hand "I am Dagoth Ur, the sole rightful God of the Dunmer people."

I chuckle and roll my eyes, feeling oddly at ease "I don't care about your made up names, Voryn."

"Your willful ignorance avails you nothing, but I will indulge you" He doesn't look all that bothered, his voice sounding almost indulgent "Why have you come here, child of my creation?"

"To make this mountain my bitch and stop it from ruining Morrowind of course" I answer flippantly "You certainly haven't done shit to save 'your' people, so it falls to me."

"Curious" He mutters "What could have possibly caused you to come, away from the homeland your traitorous father escaped to?"

"The spat between you and the rest of the traitors has cursed the land to suffer" I smirk at him, looking down both figuratively and literally "I have come to clean the place up and become the master of Morrowind the proper way."

"Do not speak of me and the false gods as one and the same" He commands coldly "They were the traitors, and I the avenger of our people's souls!" His posture relaxes ever so slightly "Still, it pleases me that my blood remains that of ambition."

"Whatever you say" I wave him off with an eyeroll "What I am really curious about is the fact you yet remain here even after Nerevar's ascent, and not in the afterlife where you belong?" No doubt an act of Azura, something I would be miffed about if I didn't agree Ur deserved all the suffering he got.

"Moon and Star would not begrudge me" He states, full of assurance "He would wish me returned to the world."

"Ah but he did begrudge you, did he not?" I ask as I lazily point at him "Did you not fall by his own hand? Were your plans not scattered by your friend?"

His endless arrogance seems to buckle for a split second "A moment of weakness, that is all. My plans shall soon come to fruition and I alone will speak for the law and the land and the Dunmer will take the world as its righteous overlords!"

With smugness bordering on the shiteating, I ask "How many times did you rehearse that line?"

Another twitch, though not nearly enough "I see" He sighs dramatically "I had thought my own descendants would have the sight to see but the insidiousness of the n'wah is too great for even my own blood to resist. You have been corrupted by those fools, child." 

"N'wah corruption?" I deadpan "Seriously?"

"It is the sole explanation" Dagoth Ur speaks as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "How else would my own creation's creation speak such treason? What a fool you must be to not realize what has been done to you."

I feel my lip twitch and before I realize it I am grinning "Ha! What a grand and intoxicating innocence!" He stills for a moment more "To think that the most corrupted of all would so bravely speak of corruption."

He goes to speak again but I cut him off "I do wonder how your constant betrayal must feel? To think that even after Nerevar honored our house and forgave your sins you would still be stuck in your own delusions." I take on step forward the suddenly much smaller feeling spirit "The prison of Azura seems to be taking its toll on you, grandfather."

His arrogant posture remains for a but a moment longer before his shoulders slump and the distinctive shudder of false power disappears from his voice "Your sight is indeed far more powerful than I suspected."

"Finally done with your posturing?" I quirk an eyebrow, guess we are moving onto flattery now. He knew how to act, I will give him that. Likely could have even managed to instill some doubt or sympathy into me if I didn't already super hate him.

"Such impiety" His voice is flat "But yes, I will permit you to speak to me openly, for the sake of expediency."

Scratching my chin and pausing just long enough to annoy him a bit I ask "So what was that entire show for? Trying to lull me into a false sense of superiority now that you have failed to awe me?" Not that it would be false in this case, not even close.

"Must there be a hidden goal behind my deeds, child?" He asks, lazily waving his hand and summoning a magnificent throne, or at least the illusion of one "As you have said, Azura's cruelty is great indeed."

My eyes narrow "I've seen the effects of the Corprus you insidious fuck, there is not a single positive thought I have of you so kindly do not treat me as if I was born yesterday."

"Ah, my Divine Disease." He speaks with genuine fondness "My greatest creation, besides Akulakhan of course. A simple act of divinity to permit all those worthy to ascend."

"Ascend as slaves to you, you mean?" I drawl.

"Are not all servants slaves to their masters?" He asks, no doubt having spoke that very same justification a thousand thousand times "Those lesser to ourselves should know their place in life, and we as their righteous shepherds should not waste time on their foolish whims."

"The words of a weakling" I roll my eyes and my own seat appears below me "One too cowardly to face a true challenge in his theft of godhood."

"Theft?" Voryn asks "All I did was take what was rightfully mine. Neither the Dwemer nor the false gods of the Tribunal were worthy of such power. I even sense it within yourself you know, this stolen divinity you so curse."

"It is inherited in my case" I grin "The sin lies solely on yourself."

"Sophistry? In my Heart Chamber?" He scoffs "What disgrace."

"After seeing what you did to the poor people serving you?" I drawl lazily "Simply being in your presence feels violently disgraceful. Honestly, what true Mer has to rely on mind control to earn the loyalty of his servants? Mind control inserted into their very bloodlines so that even their children may not know peace of mind?"

"I offered them ascension!" He nearly stands up "And I was cursed for it by all!"

"You offered naught but slavery" I sneer "Fear not though, for I have set them all free."

"You-" He pauses, his gesticulating right hand freezing in place "You did what?"

"I set them free" I fold my hands in front of my mouth to hide my vindictive grin "While your stolen power may have resulted in my own minor divinity, I have been guiding that power to break all curses of the Aedric and the Daedric, no imposed will shall be placed upon my subjects ever again, especially not one to make them loyal to myself."

He just stares at me for a few very silent moments, before slowly speaking up "How?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I grin "A weakling such as yourself would not be able to use my answer anyway."

"Speak, child!" He stands up, his throne disappearing as he pointed his almost clawlike finger at me "How did you get around my gift? How did a mere infant take from Dagoth Ur?!"

"It is rather simple, Voryn." I lean forward, still completely ignoring his made up divine title "I did not base my life on shortcuts and easy power. I challenged myself, unlike you, and grew from said challenge. A true god lay dead below my feet already, and you think I will be impressed by your own thievery?"

"Explain." He commands, the slightest shake entering his voice.

Remaining completely silent, all I do is raise an eyebrow.

The power around me shimmers but he does nothing except shifting his posture to a more friendly one and asking "Would you kindly enlighten me as to what you meant?"

'And there is the diplomat' I frown 'Kind of jarring honestly' "Quite simple really, Alduin returned mere months back, and a Dragonborn and myself slew him. Too bad you weren't there to see it, Vyren was quite happy to see our house raise beyond its cursed origins."

"Vyren, that fool" Voryn spits out, or at least pretends to, and proceeds to completely ignore my deed "His enthrallment with the Imperials has almost ruined our house! I awaited his return for two centuries and yet he never came as he was told to do, he never returned to his place and took up his duties, and for what? To waste his life for a corrupt empire and its corrupt humans?"

All I say is one word "Spite."

His now fully clawed hand clutches, his increasingly monstrous form revealing itself to me as an image of an eldrich horror in the making, all that remained of the Dunmer was the shape, everything else was unnatural.

"See, Voryn" I speak as I stand up, Blasphemy and the Razor appearing sheathed on my belt as Void's Blink now stood before my right eye "The sole feeling he had for you in life was spite, and like for him, all your actions inspired within me, was spite."

"Spite for your madness" Surge snaps into existence within my grip "Spite for your arrogance" My armor too is summoned "Spite for your evil." The war-crown now covers my face.

A long dark chuckle leaves the now monstrous once-Voryn as he sneers down at me, an expression so absolute I could feel it through his mask "Very well, child." The once powerful voice was now a scratchy growl "Had you been wiser, I may have spared you in the end, but it would seem you have chosen the path of pain."

I roll my eyes with a scoff "Oh please, I knew you would try something underhanded the moment you teleported everyone outside."

"And yet you still chose to indulge me." Dagoth Ur points out "What a fool you are."

Many things happen at once the moment he finishes his monologue.

First, my golden firestorm slams into his now far more solid body, grinding it down a fair but but not instantly killing him.

Second, my very blood screams at me to cease and offer myself in supplication to the master of all and offer him my body so that he may leave his imprisonment...

...for all about one nanosecond as my divinity promptly banishes the filthy thought out of my psyche where it damn well belongs.

Thirdly, my other hand grasps onto the Mortal's Razor as the Void's Blink reveals an appropriate target, causing me to throw the knife straight into the leg of the now charging monstrosity and blow it up in an instant.

A wave of power attempts to slam into me, spears of fire ice and lightning assailing me from all sides only for most of their Magicka to be absorbed by my armor while the rest was deflected away by a ward I cast just under the armor itself.

He attempted to bombard me once more, summoning the ashen outlines of his once closest advisors only to have the undead completely incinerated by my mere presence and his admittedly potent cursed fire be redirected to the ceiling with only minor difficulty.

'How low the mighty have fallen'

The fallen body housing his soul twitches upwards, growing in size even as the surrounding ash and rock failed to restore his leg. With a bestial growl he launches himself at me, still casting increasingly potent spell all the while.

Only for his form to suddenly be slammed into the ground below him as Akulakhan Jr. becomes visible, completely bodying the poor madman and practically slamming the meager energy he managed to gather during our conversation out of him.

That he did not spend on anemic spells anyway.

With mentally tired sigh, I approach the barely held together corpse still housing the soul of what was once Dagoth Voryn, and unsheathe Blasphemy, my other hand absently catching the razor and sheathing it once more.

The cracked mask of Dagoth Ur looks up to me, revealing to disfigured creature below. He let out a few pained coughs "All I wanted... was to be free."

Grinning from ear to ear I summon an item I had prepared exactly for such an occasion, making the poor fucker's sole eye widen as he realized what was about to happen and I swung out with Blasphemy.

In an instant, the heavily modified and comparatively massive soul gem within my grasp grabs onto the soul of Dagoth Voryn, even as I use both Blasphemy and my divinity to shear his stolen corruptive powers from him, throwing all of it back into the protective bubble of AK Senior.

Grin still on my face, I look to the gem now holding within it three smoldering embers "Aren't I a good grandson, to free you from Azura even after what you tried?" The embers flicker "Though I wouldn't exactly call it free..." I lean in and hiss "More like under new management."

The embers blaze with fury but I stop paying attention to him and clasp the lantern looking gem to my belt as I turn back to the bubble just in time to see Savos burst through it with panic in his yes and flames in his hands "Re!- yvin..." He stops himself, looking rather comical as he floated in place.

Frowning deeply, my sane grandfather looks around and sniffs the air as the rest come in "What happened in here?"

I unsummon my crown "Dumbfuck tried possessing me" The four Dagoths who yet followed me all flinch "He got exactly what he bargained for." I pat the lantern on my belt almost gently.

"That is..." Savos blinks "Great."

"Exactly" I clap my hands "Now how about you help me set up the most massive ritual ever made before I go berserk and start slurping the fucking dust off the damn floor?" 

The manic look in my eyes got him and the lesser mages present going quite quickly.

(General POV)

He held back a hiss as an ember flew from the cursed fires around him, the pain was easy to ignore though as he climbed on, his hands grasping on near boiling stone with the surety of centuries of experience.

Soon his patience would pay off, and he would be able to free himself from both prophesy and powerlessness.

----------------

Ancient D has officially been turned into small D for his failure

if you do not wish to suffer the same fate you know what you have to do

If you want to support me directly and get access to 35ish chapters in advance visit my patreon page patreon .com/Rastislav156

If you want to discuss the story or just meme about join my discord server: https://discord.gg/r7zSemYB

(General POV)

Dagoth Ulthis felt his eyes and skull throb in dull pain for probably the one hundredth time that day as he caught the slightest hint of the thing being constructed within the chamber. 

There were far too many shapes for mortal eyes to comprehend, he concluded with a shiver.

"You alright?" The short Ashlander asks him with arms crossed "That is like the tenth time you hissed like an animal."

Holding back an instinctual retort at the elf's constant prodding, Ulthis slowly turns to look at him "I am trying to make heads or tails of what they are doing, and I am failing, miserably."

Both of them turned to the sole pale elf in their band, drawing the idle gazes of others with them. Only to be completely ignored as the Falmer stood perfectly still, staring at the sole secure approach to their position.

Dagoth Vemris cleared his throat "Sejro Anondor."

The snow elf finally deigned to acknowledge their presence "Yes?"

"Do you have any idea what they are doing in there?" He asks while pointing at the heart chamber behind him "They've shut themselves inside for what feels like a whole day by now."

"It is not my duty to question my lord's coming and goings" The pale elf responds after a moment "But" He adds before the rest can sigh in disappointment "If I were to guess they are preparing a grand act of magic to fulfill the pledge and no doubt extract some form of use from the ordeal as well."

Vemris turned to Ulthis and shrugged, likely guessing that that would be all he would get without more prodding.

Indoril Vayrin however, was far too used to such conversations by now, and so he pressed "So they seek to go beyond merely calming the mountain then?"

The snow elf takes a long breath before finally turning back from the approach "I have no true fact to base this on, but in my experience, my lord has a tendency towards doing ridiculous and unexpected things. Usually to the benefit of all, which is why I do not question him now."

"Well, whatever it is they are doing" Ulthis dares another glance within "It must truly be masterful."

(Reyvin's POV)

"Gods fucking dammit, gramps! I need to draw the power into the center and have it gently absorbed, not incinerate everything inside up to and including the fucking sun!"

Savos pauses his engravings, already bags hung from his eyes as he was forced to keep perfect focus for over thirty hours "We really should take a break."

"And as fun as that sounds" I pause my own very patient chiseling "We also need to not spend three weeks in here. The ritual needs to at least begin today for maximum effect." I summon a potion and toss it at him "Here, this should keep you going for a while."

He grumbles a bit but gets back to work, correcting the slight misalignment and allowing the future circle to properly circulate power "I still think you are taking too big a risk here. You could just do the bare minimum you promise-

"Gramps." I interrupt him "Three Daedra want me worse than dead."

His mouth clicks shut.

"And yes, before you say it" I sigh "I know I was the one to provoke literal forces of nature and it was probably incredibly stupid of me, but those are the facts of my life and I need to deal with them."

He looks at me as I get back to work and chuckles "This, Reyvin, is what you yourself once called a sunk cost fallacy."

I turn to him with a grin "Not if I win."

He stares for a moment before snorting and muttering "The fact I consider it an actual possibility is quite ridiculous." He shakes his head and quickly adds "Not that I want you to lose of course, it is just..."

"Yeah, yeah" I wave him off.

We continued our work in silence for a while longer, creating circles upon circles etched with numerous runes, the lines of such crossed at thousands of points at a complexity easily described as mindboggling.

The very air seemed to shimmer around the countless symbols, unpowered as they were right now.

The vast majority of the runes was arcane in origin, joined equally by Daedric and Aedric workings, even if the latter borrowed much from the works of Magnus himself, a fact I wasted no time in playfully bragging about.

Savos pretended to be jealous, and accepted the silent lesson eagerly.

As I was about to command Akulakhan to start pouring out the liquified heartstone he had been preparing a faint voice echoed throughout the chamber, coming out in a lazy self assured drawl "Your stabilizing circles are lacking."

Both of us frowned as I ever so slowly unbuckled the lantern hanging off my belt and rose it to meet the three embers within. I said nothing and merely stared at the awakened soul.

The embers, or eyes I suppose, flickered before turning slightly brighter "Am I wrong in my assessment, child?" Dagoth Ur asked and I could practically taste his amusement.

With a frown I channeled scrying spell after scrying spell, checking the potential results over and over for a good ten minutes without saying a word and there at the edge just next to the fallen head of Akulakhan the Elder I noticed a potential breach.

One wrong spark of Magicka there and the whole thing would have exploded.

Ever so slowly my head turns back to the lantern "What are you doing?"

The eyes twinkle mockingly "You have captured my very being, child." He states "And I know you could rend my soul to energy and make of me a chamberpot should you have wished. I merely seek to prove myself useful so that my fate is less... disappointing."

"So what, you want to buy your freedom?" I raise an eyebrow, obviously about to reject him out of hand.

"Of course not, I am not a fool" Dagoth Ur scoffs "Simply do not seek to degrade me or torment me and I will provide what aid I can. As much as I would have preferred to be the one to lead our kin to glory your conviction has proven itself greater than mine, and I yet desire my people's prosperity."

Now how much of that was blatant asskissing? I am having actual trouble detecting the truth of his words which is a rather horrifying thought in and of itself.

"Very well" I say slowly "But all your suggestions will explain the entire process to me, I will take no whimsical modifications nor will I entertained arguments towards such."

"Of course" The soul emits a chuckle "Your skill at such an age is inspiring but time and mistakes make for great teachers indeed. Now, what you want to do to fix the edge there-"

---

Thirty eight hours of non-stop magical and material preparations, a mere two before the time to begin was up in this Ritual of Grand Rebirth I had been designing under the guidance of the Collected Works on Spirituality.

An unassuming name for such a grand tome but the Aldmer knew their shit and it showed, the author was so thorough I honestly thought he spent an immortality researching this one topic.

Admirable obsessions aside, the fact I turned twenty one years old in this world on this day was not an instrumental factor but it helped with the symbolism, and with something this ridiculous I needed all the help I could get.

With a fortifying breath, I tossed Dagoth Ur to Savos and signaled for him to leave, something he did after quietly wishing me luck. For a moment I contemplated contacting Minthara but decided against it, such distractions would be costly now.

'Now to go over everything one last time' I half prayed and opened my eyes. The first layer to draw the power, the second to draw the curse, the third to draw the calamity of nature, the fourth to converge it all within, the fifth to cleanse it all, the sixth to subsume it and consume what remains, and the final seventh layer to share the now blessed energy with the land.

My task would be to be the guide and conduit, ensuring the energy flowed as it should and the ritual did not collapse under its own weight. Theoretically I could have drawn everything into myself but that would have killed me near instantly.

I may be ambitious but I was most assuredly not suicidal.

'Well, at least I won't be alone in conducting' I added mentally as I placed the tiny tree sapling into the center of the massive overcomplicated ritual circle now brimming with power, power my blood begged for and I denied it still.

With a final prayer to the three that sent me here, to Dagon, and to Kyne, and to Auri-El/Akatosh, I took a deep breath, and unraveled.

(General POV)

Savos winced as he felt the power shake the mountain and turned to see if everything was fine, only to see Reyvin's body explode into so much ash, instantly obscuring what was happening within.

His hands shook but he kept himself from panicking 'This was always in the plan, Savos. He knews what he is doing.'

Even if he decided to rush back inside, he knew he would not be able to do it since Reyvin's automaton and his bodyguard stood at the entrance, both of them in battle ready stances and quite uncompromising as they stated they would kill anyone who approached now.

Savos believed them, and was frankly slightly relieved to have the choice taken from him.

He turned to the other elves that accompanied him, opening his mouth to annoy the kids and distract himself with some dumb humor...

...Only for his eyes to widen and his Magicka to surge within him as he saw something flash behind the larger Erabenimsun warrior.

He did not even get to finish summoning his first flaming atronachs as the strike reached its destination, the young warrior's head rolling of his shoulders without a sound and his body slumping forward with a thud.

The assailant was thus revealed, doubtless a Mer and clad in once resplendent moonstone armor now marred with centuries of use, and engraved with the unmistakable iconography of the Tribunal Temple.

Massanor was the first to react to the death of his brother as he threw himself at the assailant in a scream of rage, aiming to push the enemy off the precipice he stood atop with his shield only to get it grabbed and himself be thrown into the abyss.

Savos' summons finished their materialization and began pelting his foe with bolts of flame and lightning, forcing him to dodge with steps so fluid the archmage felt compelled to compare them to the flow of water. He grit his teeth and began casting destruction and alteration, both obstructing and attacking his target at he same time.

But this enemy was not solely a warrior and his free hand lashed out, forming the telltale runes of alteration magic with immense precision and rising the volcanic rock around them in the form of sharp spiked walls, sundering Savos' atronachs and impaling Dagoth Kralor who was on the other end of the passage.

The large warrior of Dagoth grunted in pain and slammed the rock with his balled fist, breaking it into pieces and immediately downing a potion even as Indoril Vayrin rushed to heal him.

A silence descended but Savos was not fooled by the lull and the instant he felt a shift in the air near Dagoth Vemris he cast one of the new additions to his repertoire, slowing the time around the elf just as the assailant appeared and nearly decapitated him.

Savos blasted the figure with a lightning beam, the spell moving through the slowed time at great speeds yet but not quickly enough to stop Vemris from losing his head as it tumbled down in slow motion.

The assailant did not escape unscathed though, as he was thrown against a wall and forced to cast a ward, stopping Savos' follow up firestorm.

On sheer instinct, recently resharpened, he summoned Spellbreaker just in time to block a bolt of fire powerful enough to crack a mountain peak and was thrown back himself, getting back just quickly enough to see the enemy rushing him with murder in his eyes.

He clutched at the Sanguine Rose hanging around his neck, carelessly expending all its petals even as the yet standing elves rushed to help him and in an instant, the assailant stood surrounded by Dremora who fell upon him with their oft ridiculous battle cries.

Savos felt a bit of sweat going down his brow as he saw them cut down by the dozens only to manage two glancing blows at the foe's arms, the girl Dagoth Azra clutched at her throat even as she bled from a dozen more wounds and Dagoth Ulthis fell unconscious as a pommel struck him in the forehead.

He had not been idle while this was happening, teleporting about and striking the enemy with magic from every angle possible, and some quite improbably, most were dodged, deflected or outright reflected back, but three struck home and singed the foe's limbs, slowing him down.

A burst of magic sent everyone tumbling away, forcing Savos to take a half second to reorient even as Vayrin and Kralor were knocked out against a wall, the force behind the slam potentially ending their lives.

The assailant moved to finish them but his blade was stopped by a blade of gleaming white coated in gold, the form of Anondor now standing between the enemy and his prize.

The unknown elf scoffed, moving to cut the Falmer down like he did so many others only to be blocked and countered, coming out of the blinding exchange with more wounds than his foe, and ending up forced to step back for a moment.

But he still did land a few blows, and as Anondor went to speak Savos felt his instincts screaming at him to move as two projection-like copies of the still unknown elf appeared next to him, aiming to skewer him while he was distracted.

Savos finally managed to get a moment of peace after twenty seconds of constant teleportation, the projections having followed him constantly, and he stopped just in time to see a stumbling Anondor be struck with an odd dust like substance that passed through his armor.

The Paladin struck back without hesitation, cutting into the assailant's helm and cracking it before doubling over and coughing out blood, blood that now flowed from both his eyes, ears, and mouth.

Savos finally managed to defeat the two projections by teleporting back to a place he had already tried escaping to and trapping them in rune traps. His faint sense of victory was short lived though, as he was once more forced to teleport away by the true form of the elf, his blood covered helmet now showing the tiniest hints of golden skin beneath.

With each moment Savos managed to waste, the assailant seemed to grow more and more panicked and frantic "Move fool!" He hissed in a voice both young and ancient and oddly androgynous "I did not come so far to be denied by some broken rat!"

Savos teleported once more, appearing just in front of the entrance to the Heart Chamber "This broken rat will shove that sword down your throat." He growled, his hands burning with chaotic flames as he slammed a sudden firestorm at his enemy.

The assailant looked just as nonchalant as before but failed to realize Savos had overcharged the spell while he spoke, spending the final dregs of his Magicka to make sure it stuck. He tried blocking it of course but his wards cracked under the pressure and in the next instant all Savos could hear was screaming.

Grinning to himself, he rose a potion of Magicka to his lips and took a gulp of victory.

Only to feel himself flying as he was slammed into a nearby wall.

Admittedly something that should have taken his attention but what his mind was truly taken by was the appearance of the burned elf, the faintest line separating gold and grey could now clearly be seen under the burns and broken armor.

'Vivec?!' Savos' eyes widened and he immediately injected one of Reyvin's emergency potions into his thigh, a heavily overcharged destruction spell forming in his free hand.

He was completely ignored as he did it as well, as the once god rushed to the Heart Chamber, aiming to do something inside.

Savos openly cackled as he was bowled over by a sudden punch of the now visible automaton, the massive creation glaring down at the false god with hateful purple eyes.

But even now he refused to leave his post.

Even as Vivec attacked him and threw magic at him, the automaton took not a single step forward or backward, staying firmly planted in the place he was commanded to guard and deflecting all attacks without concerning himself with damage.

Vivec grew more frantic, screaming "A curse upon you Azura!" As he stabbed his sword into one of Akulakhan's eyes, getting thrown back and his neck nearly broken by the countering punch and earning a large gash in his chest from the automaton's massive glaive.

Savos grinned as his spell completed and the final third of the Tribunal barely had the time to dodge to the side as a horizontal storm of bluish purple flames passed him by, leaving him one arm and one foot lighter.

With a snarl on his lips, the false prophet stabbed his sword into the dirt and spoke "Heed our pact, Mola-" 

His words were cut off by a loud thud as his brain was crushed by a one handed hammer slamming into it from behind, the sound ringing out with an odd finality.

Savos rapidly blinked the stars from his eyes as he looked up at the newcomer, the tall and well built by even human standards elf armored in Dwemer armor and holding a hammer of similar make grinned down at the now very dead Vivec "Finally got the bastard."

Now that he had a moment to truly observe him, Savos could make out numerous scars on his body that itself looked like it had been carved from stone, though the oddest part of it all was the haircut which belonged in the merethic era, a singular narrow line of hair grown tall like a plume.

The newcomer secured the burned form of Massanor atop his shoulder and sheathed his hammer before looking down at Savos "I am not too late, am I?"

Before Savos could answer, both of them tensed as the entire mountain shuddered once more.

-----@@novelbin@@

Varan Sarano, Archmaster of the Redoran paced impatiently within the chamber given to him by his Dres hosts in Old Ebonheart, all of the house heads save for the Indoril who were yet to elect their own were present in the island city as the grand army of Morrowind assembled.

Future military operations were not the cause of his nervous movements however, but the shuddering mountaintop in the distance. He knew all he could do now was have faith, and the thought of not relying on himself terrified the old warrior.

Rapid knocking drew him from his thoughts and the doors were opened without waiting for his leave, revealing Archmagister Baladas Demnevanni "Sarano, come with me quickly, something is happening."

The Archmaster frowned but still followed his peer and soon all four of them were gathered atop a northern balcony, staring straight at Red Mountin with their guts in their throats.

"I feel it" Demnevanni muttered "The culmination approaches."

No one felt like correcting the archmage so all they did was watch patiently.

And then it happened.

The top of the mountain spewed red energy that was not fire, rapidly consuming the entirety of Vvardenfell before stopping at the edges of the Inner Sea and retreating to the mountaintop, quickly followed by an unnatural slurping noise in the back of everyone's head as before their very eyes all the ash they could see covering the island was dragged back into the mountain, soon followed by the smoke above.

Aneris Dres openly gaped "What the f-"

Once more the mountain shuddered, and once more it belched out power. All of the lords and ladies tensed but what came out was neither destruction nor another wave of consumption but a wave of faint vibrant green.

A wave of green that went beyond the Inner Sea and soon reached their little unassuming balcony.

Varan Sarano had never tasted air so majestically pure in his life, not even in the lands of the Nords that were famous for it.

He could hear the Dres finish her curse, he could hear Demnevanni muttering about 'Absolute impossibilities and ridiculous monsters.'

And he could both hear and see as Sadras Sindrel, the oldest non-Telvanni elf present, knelt on the ground and wept.

The Archmaster understood the implications of what just happened, and the inevitable loss of absolute influence now awaiting his house. He found that he did not mind all that much, it was almost... relieving.

-----

Back within what was once the Heart Chamber of the Heart of Lorkhan the infinitely compressed cleansed ashes now congealed into one point, causing a much smaller shudder of power to pass through the vast cave.

In the next instant a tree sprouted, its bark a flowing grey and its leaves a bright fiery red.

And at the base of this bark was an opening, like a door leading into a small room.

Within was only darkness, and swirling shadow, and silence.

The shadows stilled, and two red eyes aglow with power snapped open, soon followed by a bout of deep ecstatic laughter that echoed throughout the mountain and beyond.

----------------

Deep down, you know you were born for the mines.

If you want to support me directly and get access to 35ish chapters in advance visit my patreon page patreon .com/Rastislav156

If you want to discuss the story or just meme about join my discord server: https://discord.gg/r7zSemYB