Chapter 5: The Path of Knowledge: Part 1
"The master wizards of House Porla traditionally grow their homes from fungal spores, using secret methods known only to themselves."
Chapter 5: The Path of Knowledge: Part 1
The Nord couple traveled along the land, killing a few creatures that were new to them, collecting a few alchemy ingreidents along the way, before they finally reached a warmer area of the island where giant mushrooms grew.
"The fuck's with the fungi?" Gajeel questioned while poking at one with his sword.
"It's the mushroom towers!" Levy said in disbelief "They normally grow in Morrowind, but I guess since the Red Mountian erupted, they took a few samples to grow here and continue the species. I've never expected to see it for myself in my entire life!" Gajeel then put his arm around his wife and pulled her closer in a loving manner.
"Glad I was able to get you to see them." he tilted her chin up and captured her lips into his. When he parted his lips from her's, he took her hand and they began to travel more towards the glorious mushroom towers.
"Are you sure you should be doing this Max?" a female dark elf asked a male one. Gajeel and Levy walked in on this scene and watched two Dunmer having a conversation, one was a male holding a book, wearing robes and looked concentrated on a spell from that book; Levy recognized him as the dark elf with Jose when they met him yesterday. Max flipped through the paged in the book before trying to perform the spell that was inside the book. He moved in a fluid motion and when he casted he spell, nothing happened.
"Ugh!" Max groaned "Why won't this Ash Guardian appear?!"
"Maybe you shouldn't be doing this without Jose's help." said the female Dunmer.
"No Laki, he's always too busy with his research so it's best I do it on my own... besides, don't you have to help out with repairing the damage done to the tower?"
"Master Jose had tasked Ooba Babasaama with caring for the tower. Can't you just perform this spell inside the tower?"
"The lab is too small... besides, Master Jose is aware of what I'm doing... Now if only I could read Master Jose's hand writing! Heatscent? Hearthstall?" seeing she wasn't going to get through with him, Laki began to walk away but noticed the two Nords who were watching this scene.
"We don't get many visitors." Laki smiled "Is there something you need?"
"We need to speak with Jose," Levy vouched "is he home?"
"He should be in his tower working in the lab right now as we speak; why are you here if you don't mind me asking?"
"Got something that needs to be shown." Gajeel explained. Laki nodded at Gajeel's words.
"I see, you'll find the lab in the main tower which is right behind me to your left. Once you enter, be wary. There is an enchanted field that allows whoever enters magically float up into the tower." thanking the kind Dark elf, Gajeel and Levy soon made their way to the tower.
They found the enchanted entryway the moment they entered the room. Levy stepped forward and suddenly felt a burst of magical air come from the ground and levitated into the air, landing on a small deck nearby. Gajeel repeated what Levy did and soon landed right next to his wife... although not as gracefully. Jose was focused on piles of research paper on his table. Studying each note before grabbing his ink and quill planning to write more, when he realized he couldn't really see what he was writing, he moved his hand and the spell Mage's Light activated, giving him more light to see what he was doing. The Nord couple made their way over to the Dunmer who looked up at them in surprise.
"I remember you two." Jose suddenly said "You found what you were looking for I assume?"
"I guess you can say that..." Levy high signed.
"We need to more about this Black Book or whatever the fuck it's called." Gajeel blurted out. He pulled the book out of his bag and then dropped it in front of the Wizard. The Dark Elf leered at Gajeel's demands and a spark seemed to have triggered in his eyes.
"You refer to the tomes of esoteric knowledge that old Hermaeus Mora has scattered throughout the world?" Jose examined "What could you know of them?" Levy's mouth dried and she suddenly began to feel faint the moment she heard Jose say that name. Hermaeus Mora? The Hermaeus Mora?! She didn't expect it to be this serious! Just as these thoughts came to mind, Levy began to realize where she felt that aura from earlier before. She remembered on her first journey with Gajeel, they went to visit a crazed mage who secluded himself from society in order to find information on an Elder Scroll that was needed to defeat Acnologia. There was a Dwemer ruin inside his makeshift home and inside that Dwemer ruin, she felt the exact same aura coming from the stones and the Black Book.
For those who aren't aware, Levy and her family were captured by Boethia (another Daedric Prince)'s cultists when she was a little girl. They were going to be sacrificed to Boethia but her parents made sure she escaped the night of the ritual and eventually, her parents met their end. She would never be reunited with her parents in Sovernguarde because of the fact they were sacrificed to Boethia. Since that faithful night, Levy had a hatred for all Daedric Princes.
"T-this book has something to do with Hermaeus Mora?" Levy swallowed "And there's more of them?!"
"You didn't know?" Jose questioned "Hmm, I thought it was obvious. Hermaeus Mora has always tried to seduce mortals into his service with the lure of forbidden knowledge. Where the Black Books actually came from; no one really knows. Some appear to have been written in the past, others might be from the future."
"Hey wait a minute I'm missing something here!" Gajeel howled "Who the fuck is Hermaeus Mora?!"
"The Daedric Prince of Knowledge and Fate." Levy said in an quiet voice "He's been known to lure people who seek knowledge into permanent enslavement."
"If you have to ask that, you'd probably be best leaving his books to wiser heads than yours." Jose commented to Gajeel "Like all Daedric Princes, he's not to be trifled with. But he is subtler than most of his ilk, appropriate for the prince of knowledge and fate. Many scholars and loremasters have been ensnared by the lure of learning the secrets that only Hermaeus Mora possesses; but don't worry, I have no intention of joining them in their endless search through the infinite halls of Apocrypha."
"Apocrypha?" Gajeel questioned.
"Hermaus Mora's realm." Levy continued "An endless world full of knowledge collected by Hermaus Mora himself... Gajeel, do you remember Arlock?" Gajeel thought for a moment before it hit him.
"The crazy old guy who wanted us to help him open that Dwemer ruin? What about him?"
"The aura I felt at the stones and in God Serena's temple was the same aura I felt coming from that Dwemer ruin in Arlock's hideout last year."
Gajeel's eyes widened and he looked at his wife with shock.
"You're shitting me." he expressed.
"I'm not." Levy sighed. Taking a deep breath, Gajeel looked at Jose with a determined face.
"I need to know what God Serena knows before he goes ahead and fucks everything up."
"Now that is a dangerous path indeed." Jose pointed out "Hermaeus Mora gives nothing away for free, you may end up like God Serena, of course. Two power-mad Dragonborns? It could be very interesting." The Nord couple looked at Jose in shock for a moment.
"H-how did you know Gajeel is Dragonborn?" she asked.
"Well, if Gajeel here needs to learn what God Serena knows in order to stop him, it's quite simple to put two and two together. Now from what I can tell, Gajeel has read the book here. Don't try to deny it, you've got the look! I can see it now. Dangerous knowledge is still knowledge and therefore useful. Usually turns out to be the most useful, in my experience. But Gajeel won't be able to get any form of knowledge from it as of now." realizing what he was saying was true, Gajeel and Levy realized they have no other option.
"Then we need to find another." Levy sighed "As much as it displeases me to say that."
"Oh yes." Jose drawled while walking over to another desk with his notes "They're not hard to locate once you know how to look for them. I have one here that I have been using to locate more."
"You got one of those damn books?" Gajeel needled.
"Yes, I haven't been idle while this fascinating madness engulfed Solstheim; but my book isn't what you're looking for. I'm quite sure it is unconnected with this God Serena, but I do know where to find a Black Book that can help you."
"Why the fuck can't we use yours?" Gajeel queried.
"Oh, it clearly is not associated with the same power that has overtaken the island." Jose waved "And I'm not talking about Hermaeus Mora. These Black Books are all his, of course. No, what you're looking for is a specific book. Presumably because God Serena's power derives from it."
"So you know where to find this Black Book?" Levy put the screws to "The one connected with God Serena?"
"Yes I do. I haven't been able to get it, though. But maybe together we can unlock the secrets the Dwemer left behind."
"Woah woah woah wait!" Gajeel interuppted "The Dwemer?! The fuck do they have to do with this?"
"Forbidden knowledge was somewhat a specialty of the dwarves, eh?" Jose explained "You don't think they would just leave it alone, do you? It seems the ancient Dwemer discovered this book and took it to study. I have found their 'reading room' in the ruins of Nchardak. The book is there, but it's sealed in a protective case which I wasn't able to open. But perhaps the three of us together will be able to get the book." he dusted himself off and began to make his way to the exit "To Nchardak, then. Follow me."
"Wait, Jose." Levy stopped "I have a question, why was I able to sense Hermaous Mora's influence on the island but Gajeel wasn't?" Jose thought for a moment before realizing.
"Have you come into contact with Daedras before?"
"Well, my family and I were to be sacrifices to Boethia when I was a girl, but I managed to escape the night my parents were sacrificed. And we did have to put an end to some form of Daedra influence nine months ago."
"It could be you've developed sensory abilities from your experience in the past. Your close brush with a Daedric Prince may have gifted you the ability to sense Daedra influence nearby."
Levy looked in shock at Jose's words about her discovered "gift". She wasn't sure if having this ability was a good or bad thing considering she got sick to the point her stomach contents had to make an evacuation. But if her close brush with death all those years ago gifted her with this ability; then by the Gods she was going to use it in whatever way she could to end Daedra influence.
"Now, if you both will follow me, I can take you to the book that has the powers you're looking for." not arguing with the wizard, Gajeel and Levy put the book back in Gajeel's bag and followed Jose close behind to the Dwenmer Ruins nearby.
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