A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree'' ⬅️
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Apocrypha comes from the word Apocryphal, which means something obscure and hidden. In terms of scriptural and theological studies, the meaning evolved to False, Spurious, Bad, or Heretical.
What does this have to do with Hermaeus Mora's Apocrypha? The answer is nothing… or maybe everything.
Apocrypha is the trove of all the hidden knowledge in the world, especially the ones that are forgotten and falsified. In other words, if something is theoretically argued about, the truth lies in Apocrypha but so do a thousand lies.
The story of Apocrypha's Origin is as long as time itself or maybe even older thus it can't be knowable by the common man or even by some of the oldest Original Spirits. All that is known is that the Spirit of Hermaeus Mora is associated with more than just Knowledge and Fate and his sphere is said to be the closest one to Namira, the Ancient Darkness and the Daedric Prince of Decay. Even the name "Oblivion" was originally associated with Hermaeus Mora more than any other Daedric Prince.
The secret around this is rather simple. As a negative force, Oblivion is the death of all knowledge and memories, something which may sound appealing to many Daedric Princes. As for the Hoarder of Knowledge, however, the quest to collect all the knowledge possible meant not just to know what it is, but to take it and keep it away from others.
In other words, whatever knowledge Hermaeus Mora hoards is for his own and he does everything possible so that mortals completely forget it. Thus… it is Oblivion.
This aspect of Hermaeus Mora was not clear to many but as soon as knowledge was submitted to him, it slowly faded away. This is the case for the high forms of knowledge like the Arcane and Scientific studies, as for the common knowledge, it didn't fall under that influence but it all depended on the community of people that preserves such knowledge.
One can say that Hermaeus Mora is the Prince of Forgetfulness and Abandonment of Memories aside from Knowledge and Fate as he is famously known.
This is all nice and dandy for a Daedric Prince but the implications of his sphere may have not inflicted any large damage to the mortal world. Still, how would we know if his sphere has caused great harm or not? After all, we'd simply forget what he doesn't want us to know.
It is a funny concept and shows how feeble mortals can be against the absolute powers of the Daedric Princes but just like anything, there are exceptions when it comes to Daedric Princes. Their spheres of influence may be absolute when it comes to their powers but they are not absolute by themselves and as long as one gets a lead on their weaknesses and strengths, one shall navigate Oblivion with one less thing to worry about. Miraak did it and survived for thousands of years, Jon Dare is doing it today as well.
"Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Mudaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
*Screeeeeeeeeeeech*
While sparing nothing of his pure physical strength, Jon mustered all his power and cast reinforcement spells on himself to turn into something he has always wanted to try. The result of that was a massive battle occurring in the Book of the Hidden Twilight in Apocrphya's depth.
His punches put holes in the walls that were made by layering dozens over dozens of apocryphal texts and made. Those towering walls of parchment and paper would fall thunderously in the endless seas of ink as Jon would use them to wipe out the hordes of enemies that spawned in his way.
Apocrypha wasn't just sitting still as Jon Dare, Hermaeus Mora's enemy, was roaming its chapters and traversing its verse. He was to be stopped and cast out of the realm of Daedric Knowledge before more damage was done to the power of their Daedric Lord.
But the damage was already being done and Jon wasn't the one doing it, the more creatures spawn in Jon's way, the more violent he gets. If only they had quietly let him pass, no damage would have been inflicted on the realm at this incredible rate.
Hermaeus Mora was busy driving Jon out and away from any knowledge that would increase the chances of him foiling his plans, but Jon decided to be on the offense for the longest he can. Once the power of Hermaeus Mora is directed at a certain target, he will lose focus on other things.
Even though a Daedric Prince's power is unlimited in their realm, they are still limited entities and can't risk their limitedness and weakness getting found. It is even rarer for a Daedric Prince to step up and fight on the frontlines and so Jon put all these weaknesses into consideration when he decided to wreak havoc in Apocrypha.
His strategy was "offense is the best defense" so by doing the most damage he can here, he will cripple all of Hermeus Mora's operations on Nirn momentarily… or so it was how it is supposed to be.
But in these situations where the Minions of a Daedric Prince are not enough to stop the wreaking-havoc mortal, the mini big-bad-evil-guy in this scenario would appear. In Miraak's case, he appeared on a Dragon.
*ROAR!*
Seeing the damage that was done to the book of Hidden Twilight, Miraak descended on his most valued Dragon, Sahrotaar.
Sahrotaar covered the land with his massive wings and cast their shadows upon Jon as he flew by. Jon looked up and with a sneer, he cast a spell around him that created a mass of Undead Bonemen, the black skeleton archers from the Soul Cairn.
"Hey, Miraak! You up there?"
While tearing a lurker into two pieces, Jon started calling out to Miraak.
"Dragonborn!" On top of his Dragon, Miraak looked down at Jon, and with a wrathful voice, he called Jon back.
"Do you want to see my latest trick?" Jon asked, "I got it from a stupid mobile game ad."
"I won't give you time to have your way with your Sorcery. Once I am done with you, you won't be so full of yourself."
"So cliche, man!" Jon cringed but Miraak was already preparing to descend.
No matter what, the skeletal Bonemen were helplessly weak and they would be stomped all over the battlefield once Miraak hits the ground.
On the other hand, Jon snapped with his fingers while uttering a command.
"Merge!"
The undead aura surrounding the summoned undead army of Jon intensified greatly and as if conjuration was being canceled, half of the undead disappeared in black smoke.
Miraak descended with Sahrotaar quickly and the ground shook. Not a few hours have passed since he met with Jon as an astral projection and the two had to split a dragon's soul together. Once Miraak saw Jon on the ground, he wanted to attack him immediately and cast him off Apocrypha but the moment he saw the sight of the undead around him, he realized Jon was up to no good.
This may be their third encounter (and the second on the same day) but Miraak has already grown a sense of wariness from Jon's action.
"Sahrotaar! Yol pah!"
"Geh, Thuri!"
Miraak ordered Sahrotaar to attack everything inbound and the Dragon submitted and obeyed. He opened his dark maw and let the Flames spread and run amok at the army of undead Jon made.
On the other hand, Jon seemed nonchalant. As soon as the fire of Sahrotaar died down and the place got covered in smoke, all those who could smell the smoke could smell something like burnt flesh in the mix, a very unsettling smell even for those who are used to death.
By the next second, the mystery was answered with the head of a hideous beast going out of the smoke and attempting to bite the life out of Sahrotaar's neck. The serpentine dragon was hideous in his own way but as soon as his right eye spotted that thing, he instinctively retreated on guard.
"Merge!"
Jon's voice was heard another time and the undead soldiers went down by half their number once again. The appearance of the remaining half, however, was a far cry from the original appearance of the normal Boneman.
"This…"
Miraak was baffled between the appearance of the strange monstrosity and what was going on with Jon's undead. In front of his eyes was Wendigo of Gluttony and it seemed that this beast was only getting uglier by the minute. Wendigo seemed to have completely neutralized the flames of the Dragon by its bare body.
"Merge!"
Jon spoke one more time and by looking at the undead around him, they seemed to have become less than a hundred or so. Still, this is no longer a lesser undead or anything of the sort.
"Merge! Merge! Merge!"
Jon went wild with the merging and now, stood four skeletons around him, every one of them was a towering goliath of bones with a menacing-looking bow that extended from their heads to their toes. It was something new and unknown to many necromancers but it was surely a very wild card.
"Thank you for patiently waiting." Jon said with a vicious grin.
"Heh! You're good!" Miraak was somewhat relaxed as he felt the threat of the undead that Jon summoned wasn't that high.
"Indeed." Jon agreed with Miraak, "These boneheads are known as the Keepers. Pretty mighty for some Undead. But…"
Rather than commanding the four Keepers to attack, Jon took out a quiver of large arrows and distributed them among his undead.
"Have you ever been curious about the combination of the strongest undead archers and the strongest bone arrows?" Jon asked, "To be honest, I have."
"Dragon bone arrows?" Miraak understood where Jon was going with this.
Miraak seemed tense at this moment and knew that Jon wasn't here to cause actual trouble but to play mind games instead.
How so?
"Wendigo." Jon called his abomination of gore and Wendigo acted immediately.
The monster took many forms but for the fight against a dragon, Wendigo was appearing like a porcupine demon with long limbs and his iconic antlers. With the advantage of its long limbs, Wendigo contended against the dragon in a dirty fight. Every time the Dragon tries to breathe its fire, Wendigo would bunch his face and make him retreat.
Miraak was also having a hard time controlling Sahrotaar but in the end, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He wasn't trying at first since Jon was only relying on his eldritch minions but now as his own Dragon was disadvantaged this easily, Jon seems to have fulfilled what he's after and made Miraak step down.
This was a form of humiliation.
Jon caused everything to go sideways in Miraak's plan and now he's even invading the realm where he hides not once but twice. Also, Miraak can't forget how Jon made it personal and attacked him with the molten geode at their first encounter. On the other hand, Jon would argue that Miraak started it first when he attacked Winterhold but who cares?
They're about to fight and go wild at each other.
But just as Miraak was about to take out his tentacle sword and go head to head against Jon, the ground they stood on started to shake and the stacking towers of ancient tomes started to sway over the horizon. The green sickening skies of Apocrypha with clouds of tentacles and goat-eye clusters started to be stormy and the usually calm sea of ink surrounding all the island chapters was raging.
"What… what did you do?" Miraak was a little bit shaken as he asked.
"Make a wild guess." Jon replied as the ground started to shake even harder.
"You're destroying the foundations of Secret Twilight?" Miraak asked as he felt some energy coming from underground.
"Yes. My kitty cat and most of my sin artifacts have already been down there doing their things while I was breaking the high towers of tomes." Jon replied.
"This is pointless." Miraak scoffed at Jon's actions, "You can't destroy a part of a daedric realm forever. Mora can restore it in no time and it won't even bother him."
"It's true I can't destroy it." Jon said and stayed quiet for a suspicious second before pointing up at the sky, "But it can."
Taking a fast glance up there while expecting that Jon may go for a surprise punch, Miraak's eyes caught something emerging in the green skies of Apocrypha. It was like a large metal wheel that was causing some sort of Magicka swirl in the sky in its center.
Miraak couldn't understand it fully but in the following second, the four undead behind Jon started moving in different directions all at the same time.
"You think I'll let you surround me?" Miraak decided not to pay attention to anything else and retreated alongside Sahrotaar.
Jon pushed forward and gave a short chase to the retreating pair of Dragon and Dragonborn before giving up midway. His objective seemed to be scaring them off for his four undead to do what they must.
At that point, the four Skeletal Keeper Archers stood at different corners of the island chapter of the Secret Twilight and where they stood was one strange large hook-like arrow coming from the ground. These arrows were as big as trees but to the keeper, they fit their great bows very well. Each of the Skeletal Keeper Archers took one of those arrows and notched them in their bows as they aimed for the large circle in the sky.
And…
*ZUUUUUUUUU*
*CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE*
Each of the arrows flew upward to the sky with a giant chain being hooked at their ends. The power of the war bows defied the weight of the chains that were being taken by the arrows up to the sky and at the end, the four chains connected with the circle in the sky.
"Operation Hijack Twilight, commencing the second phase!" Jon called all his minions and then looked up, "Xikil, start up the Dread Engine. Today, the Dark Anchors shall hit Apocrypha!"
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A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree'' ⬅️
A/n: You guys know this type of cat that runs away for a while and then returns home with a few kittens on her tail. Welp, think of me the same way.
Earlier in January, I became a proud father of Aisha (little Donna as you shall refer to her by now), who completely graced this mortal realm with her presence on a winter day just like her father.
And since I finally started sleeping properly in the past month, I got my Masters and worked as a screenwriter for a local entertainment show, and yeah… I AM A DAD!
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If somebody were to ask Jon, why on Nirn… or in Oblivion… would you steal a part of an Oblivion Realm that belongs to a Daedric Prince and take it away with you?
For that question, Jon would simply shrug his shoulders!
In truth, however, he was just looking for a way to vex Hermaeus Mora even more than what already happened with the Oghma Infinium.
But there is more to just that. Jon's intention of making enemies with Hermaeus Mora is intended to reach the point of no return. Jon doesn't want Hermaeus Mora to even be on good terms with him so in the likelihood of him coming to face off Miraak at the final battle, Hermaeus Mora still remains attached to Miraak.
In other words, if Hermaeus Mora was to find Miraak troublesome (which is already the case), he has to find Jon Dare to be absolutely intolerable.
It can be said that Jon was fixing the wedge between Miraak and Hermaeus Mora at this point.
"Such a good guy you are." Alina held up the ruined Black Book of Secret Twilight and opened it wide.
It was not only ruined but disintegrating to ashes by the second. Alina held up and down in wonder at how such an object was slowly dying.
"You took it out of its habitat so it is naturally dying. This may be one of the rare events where a Daedric Creature is experiencing true death." Master Neloth commented while rubbing the ash of the Black Book with his fingers.
"No apology here!" Jon said with a grin.
"What did you do with that Apocrypha chapter after ripping it from the realm?" Neloth asked.
"I dropped it in Coldharbour in place of the Hollow City which I ripped from Molag's realm a long time ago." Jon said.
"You ripped Molag off the same way you ripped Mora? This keeps getting better and better." Wulfur laughed.
"But imagine this, Hermaeus Mora trying to get his chapter back from Molag Bal. Knowing Molag, he'd never do that." Neloth commented.
"This will bring more trouble to Hermaeus Mora for sure. Cunning!" Alina added.
The team was all gathered at Tel Mithryn where their host Neloth was quite pleased with the results of the fight between Jon and Miraak.
"The most important thing right now is never to stop our momentum." Jon said, "I am afraid that despite all these hits, we only made the enemy angry. They will retaliate and will come after us."
"What can they do?" Jullanar asked.
"Dragons." Jon said, "If I were Miraak, I'd keep me busy with multiple Dragon attacks all across the island. Maybe send some back to the mainland." Jon said.
"Correct." Alina agreed, "I'd do that too but to keep you hot on heels, I'd go after more Dragons."
"Tame more Dragons?" Neloth asked, "I imagine it is not that easy."
"It requires power but Alina is right. Gaining more Dragons on his side is a good move that he'd most likely do. There is a big Dragon influx in Skyrim and a Dragonborn with his power can do that even with his Astral Projection."
"Wouldn't he attack Morrowind too?" Wulfur asked.
The entire group of people turned to Wulfur.
"I'd do that. It is no secret that Jon has a strong teleportation network across Skyrim and we are even establishing a portal on Solstheim. The best place to keep you really busy is Morrowind. It is close but you'd need to travel there by yourself to ward off a Dragon attack."
"Spot on." Neloth liked Wulfur's opinion but he got ahold of himself and returned to his cold attitude, "The warrior is right."
"Yes. We'd have to do something about that." Jon started thinking.
"We can send a trade ship from Winterhold to Neo Vevic and equip it with a portal. The ship can stay over there for as long as a week according to the trade agreement with House Redoran." Jullanar said.
"A portal on a moving ship is never a good idea but we can do that." Alina agreed.
"Alright. We are ready to take the hits but where are we going to punch back?" Jon asked.
Everyone started thinking but it was Neloth who applied with a grin.
"I think I know just the place."
***
"The Dwarven Ruins of Nchardak." Jon exclaimed, "The city of hundred towers."
"Right you are." Neloth replied.
"The last of the Black Books is here." Jon said.
"You keep spoiling things for yourself, n'wah!" Neloth replied, walking ahead, "We get the Black Book stashed in here and you can do what you want with it but after I get to see what knowledge it holds."
"Deal." Jon said dispiritedly.
Nchardak was believed to be the largest, and perhaps the most advanced, of the great Dwemer Archives.
The city was considered to be a marvel of engineering, even by Dwemer standards, as it employed a complex system of pumps, aqueducts, and boilers that released steam into various parts of the city. Using various control cubes, the Dwemer were able to raise and lower the entire city into the sea at will. Legends tell of the time when invading Nords attempted to conquer it. In response, the Dwemer submerged the city beneath the sea until the Nords gave up.
At its height, the great workshops of Nchardak were said to be able to produce one complete automaton every day, an apparently impressive rate of production. Much of the army that fought at the Battle of Red Mountain was believed to have come from Nchardak.
Either way, the Fate of Nchardak was the same as most of the Dwemer Ruins in this world, either occupied by invaders or overseen by someone who wants to exploit them. In the case of Nchardak, it was both of them.
"Reavers and Looters, how unexpected!" Jon said as he stepped on the bridge leading to Nchardak with Neloth.
"Lucky for the two of us, my Nord N'wah, I've sealed the gate to Nchardak with its own mechanisms. This will keep away all those pesky looters and we will get to go in after we clean up the place."
"Let's see, there are 30 of them, there are 2 of us." Jon started to make a headcount with his passive perception.
"You're pitying them, aren't you?" Neloth asked.
"Well, I wouldn't if they stood a chance."
Like the wrath of nature, Jon and Neloth turned into two bolts of lightning as each one of them scaled a tower from the high rises of Nchardak. Neloth, armed with two staves, and Jon with one staff and one sword.
Neloth summoned a storm of lightning and a wave of Ash Atronachs while Jon started dropping an endless amount of Fireballs to carpet the whole ruins.
"LAAS YAH NIR!" (Life, Seek, Hunt)
He even shouted the Aura Whisper to reveal every last one of the looters who were infesting the ruins. While Neloth was rounding up the looters and taking down any mage among them with Lightning, Jon was multi-killing the groups of looters that were swarming.
Once only the toughest warriors and mages of the looters remained, Jon jumped off the tower and started hacking and slashing until no one was left alive.
"This is glorious!"
With smiles and glee, Jon started walking around his kills, tossing them from the top of the bridges and the towers to the sea beneath. Most of Nchardak was built in the sea so it was mostly made of towers springing up from the waters and bridges connecting them.
With that, Neloth and Jon traveled to the largest platform in the Dwarven Ruin and stood in front of a mighty gate.
"The Dwemer of Nchardak appear to have been fond of these control pedestals. Luckily I found a cube to operate it inside on my last visit. I sealed the door when I left to keep out ignorant meddlers. Let me unlock it. The book is just inside." Neloth said.
He placed the cube on the pedestal and just like that the gate, which was sealed with many dwarven metal bars, was no longer barred. The gate opened and the two walked into the Dwarven Ruin.
"Impressive place." Jon commented.
"No thanks to anyone other than yours truly. I've kept this place clean and pristine for as much as my ability allowed. The Dwemer are no easy task masters though." Neloth prided himself with his work then complained before looking somewhere and smiling widely, "You can see the book right there. So tantalizingly close... But trust me, no magic will open that."
The Black Book was just where Neloth said it was, beneath a sealed shield of impenetrable glass-like substance in the middle of a glorious Dwarven hall.
"Really interesting." Jon said as he went down on one knee to examine the substance that sealed the Black Book.
It was rather impenetrable and immune to all sorts of vibrations and shocks. Worst of all, even his shadow wasn't cast inside the sealing spot.
"I'd have had the book already if I could. No, we'll have to do this the hard way. If we can restore the steam supply to this room, I'm certain I can open it. As you'll see, that's easier said than done. This way to the…"
"Hold up!" Jon said as he analyzed the sealing technique before exclaiming, "Holy smokes!"
"Yes, yes, I've studied it for years, I can share some notes with you later." Neloth said dismissively.
"This is not Glass, it is actual… frozen… reality! Frozen Space!" Jon screamed like a fangirl.
"Yes, yes." Neloth rolled his eyes unamusingly.
"And my shadow doesn't even go in! This means that the light photons are frozen within! God! The time itself is paused!"
"Wait, what?" Neloth was momentarily surprised before immediately getting his act together, "Oh… right. Time is frozen, I thought you said something else."
Lucky for him, Jon didn't even pay him the slightest attention.
"Hahaha! Those Dwemer, man! Impressive little fucks! They just keep getting under one's skin 4000 years after they poofed!" Jon kept monologuing, "I wonder how they did it! Absolute Zero? Most of the molecular motions would halt but the Book wouldn't keep itself together. The individual atoms would overlap so much that they collapse into a single quantum state. It has to be Tonal waves, I'm sure of it. They set it on a spectacular level of finesse."
"Yes, yes… yes, yes, yes. Let's get going, Wizard Jon. We can't waste time." Neloth had to drag Jon away from the domed reading room where the book was sealed before entering deeper into the Nchardak.
"As I said, we need to restore the steam supply to the reading room if we want to get the book." Neloth spoke as he activated the elevator heading deeper into Nchardak.
As they reached the control room level, Neloth operated the controls as Jon traveled across the old ruins discovering cubes and fighting ancient machines. It took them a couple of days to discover it all and finally, they removed all the water pressure from the reading room. This allowed the seal around the Black Book to be lifted.
Once Jon and Neloth got back to the reading room, the Book was already lifted from the Seal while resting on a pedestal.
"After you."
"Thank you."
The two men approached the Book with an equal amount of professionalism and curiosity.
"Mora is gonna have it hard." Jon said with a vicious grin but as soon as he turned towards Neloth.
*STAB*
"UUGH!"
Neloth stabbed Jon right in the heart.
"Wh…" Jon's face paled from the shock at the sight of the weird green sword in Neloth's hand.
Neloth tilted his head and smiled as the illusion around him was dispelled as if a layer of visual illusion was being burnt away.
"Hermaeus Mora sends his regards!"
The one beneath that illusion was none other than the First Dragonborn, Miraak.
And with a single kick, Miraak kicked Jon towards the Black Book which opened by itself and its tentacles swallowed Jon in one go before closing again.
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A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree" ⬅️
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