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95.47% Dragonborn Saga / Chapter 716: Oghma

Chapter 716: Oghma

A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree" ⬅️

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Jon wasn't sure what to expect from the Oghma Infinium. Some called this the Librum of Knowledge for the immense amount of information it possesses, others called it the Tome of Power for the diverse powers that it grants its reader, and others called it "The Book that Knows" from how terrifyingly accurate that book can be at offering the information that the reader wants to know.

Still, with all its might and glory, it is a book of single-use. Once read and its secrets are unraveled to a certain extent, it goes away to find another reader.

One can say that this book is the only gateway available to the secret knowledge from the trove of the all-knowing hoarder, Hermaeus Mora.

Still, there is too much about this book to take one's mind away apart from the content within itself. This, of course, speaks of the book's grand history as an artifact that is associated with not just one Ada but two of them. The first is obviously Hermaeus Mora but the other one and the recognized creator of the book is the one and only Xarxes, the Elven Deity and the Scribe of Auri-El.

This goes back to a time when the Original Spirits and the Wandering Ones were incoherently intermingled and time wasn't yet fathomed as this story happened in no particular Era while in fact some of the conceited Elves claim that it was Merethic. They said that Xarxes was a mortal of their kind and he achieved apotheosis by the blessings of Auri-El as their kind was always meant to have, still, as with all things Merethic, it is hard to tell the truth from the fabrications.

The story of which two characters are focused on. One is Xarxes the Scribe and the other is Oghma, his journal and later, his wife.

It starts as all things beautiful, in an age of beauty, magic, and purity. Xarxes was in love with knowledge, especially the records of history and tales of old. Deciding to account his favorite moments in a single tome, the Scribe scribed to his heart's content.

There was, however, the interference of the impure in this story. The third character that wasn't meant to appear in the Elven records, is Hermaeus Mora, the Daedra of Secrets.

In some accounts, Hermaeus Mora claimed that Xarxes "lacked'' certain pieces of knowledge about his most dear history and his search led him to the doorstep of Hermaeus Mora, the One Who Knows. He, who was very pleased to fill the gaps Xarxes had in his tome, in his Oghma.

The Oghma Infinium was the product of Xarxes' love for history where he added his favorite moments as said. It was a detailed account that contained a lot of stories about the Heroes of old, the Kingdoms that rose and fell, the secret eras within the Merethic Era, and much more. As a matter of fact, the Oghma Infinuim's content has much more than just secrets about the techniques of Fighting, Stealth, and Magic.

By his nature, Hermaeus Mora wouldn't let any mortal into the deep secrets of his knowledge for unlike the noble Xarxes, he is one who hoards knowledge and keeps it a secret, not the one to spread it. It is said that Hermaeus Mora was left with free reign over a mortal society, he would strip it from all its memories and knowledge, leaving behind nothing but an uneducated gathering of helpless mortals.

As for Xarxes and his Oghma, the myth doesn't explain much more than the fact that Love is Divine and Love made the Oghma of Xarxes something much more profound. Profound as per se that the Oghma had become something Xarxes would call his "wife".

At least he didn't clone himself into female versions and boned them.

With that out of the way, the story goes on and on about Oghma and how she questions whether she was created with the will to be Xarxes' wife or with the choice. While there appears to be no definitive conclusion to the tale of Xarxes and Oghma, she was still called his wife in the unreliable records of the Altmer.

But the Oghma Infinium is now in the hand of Hermaeus Mora, who uses the book as a reward of sorts to bestow the knowledge within on mortals whom he deems fit. Regardless of the criteria, the book was said to give people power almost in the realm of a Demi-Prince.

But there was one thing that Jon found almost fascinating about Oghma, particularly about the Oghma Practice. In the Lore of Xarxes, the Elven deity commands his followers in the Aldmeriad, the famous Saga of Elves, to keep the Oghma Practice in these lines: "As ye are true Children of the et'Ada, thou shalt honor us by honoring thy own lives. For in each of ye is housed the Divine Spark, and thus the record of thy actions is a sacred duty. Keep, therefore, each and every one of you, an Oghma, an everscriven scroll which shall memorialize thy brief lives. Thus in at least this way shalt thy Spark be Immortal."

An interesting concept and at the very least an act of passing knowledge and experience. One must not forget that Ysgramor's "Songs of the Return" were some sort of an Oghma which he wrote to be the first human historian after he developed a runic alphabet for the old Atmoran speech.

"Augur. You have been recording all my actions, right?"

< Yes. Memories, actions, and fights. Much like the Memory Stars of Sotha Sil, you can have something like that outputted from my memories if you provide the materials. >

"Guess I have had an Oghma all along."

< Glad to be of help. >

Jon smiled and started to spread his legs by walking around in the Chamber of the Augur down at the Midden.

He had a ton of books with him that he had to go through before thinking about using the Oghma Infinium. He used the Black Books before but aside from being gateways to Apocrypha, the Oghma Infinium is something that is bound to be a lot more dangerous on the psychological front.

Aside from the books, he had magical artifacts that can cast protection, the Augur who can predict the magical nature of things, and a Containing Chest that can keep the Oghma Infinium sealed while all the preparations are done.

And they were. Jon was simply excited and only wanted to make sure that nothing would go wrong. He cracked his fingers, his neck, and his back before taking out the Oghma Infinium and placing it on a pedestal.

"Alright, here we go."

Jon and the Augur seemed to be equally interested in the knowledge they were about to get their hands on. As students of the Arcane Arts, they'd focus on the Tome's Path of Magic chapter and try to traverse its secrets.

Jon opened the cover and the first page in front of him was a diagram of many interlocked shapes all written in Magical Script. By following the triangle shape, one would discover the three chapters of the book. By following the circles, one would read the overall content of each chapter.

"A clever way to make an index." Jon said.

< Mysterious! Sounds exactly like the work of Xarxes. >

Jon touched the first page and a few drops of green acidic ink gathered around his finger. He moved his finger up to the right tip of the triangle to where the Path of Magic was then moved his fingers to the first page of the chapter on the circle diagram.

Just like that, the book came to life and the pages started to turn on their own until they reached the first part of the chapter.

"Now would you look at that!" Jon laughed in glee and waited until the pages got to where the chapter begins.

The text was magnificent, the words were elaborate, and the details were astonishingly on point.

"… The Root of Magicka begins in Aetherius and grows through the veil till its branches bear their fruits all around Mundus … the Children of Magnus are spirits of pure energy and shine … the Stars and the Sun and the Celestial Bodies … the Magicka is bound to assimilate into the world and the Magic is bound to grow weaker until our magic is not the same as the ages beyond us … Auri-El in his great wisdom understood these concepts and knew that a predecessor is of vital significance in understanding the nature of one's self … the past, the present, and the future intermingle in the ways of the Psijic and the wording of PSJJJJ underlines all the mystic ways of royalty …"

Jon read the first page and kept skimming and skimming before moving to the next one and the next one. He then rolled the pages as fast as he could to the last page in the chapter and…

"Augur, what the hell?" Jon asked.

< It appears the quality of the content on these pages is quite unbefitting. >

"That's just some regular stuff."

To Jon and the Augur, the content of the Oghma Infinium was a tad underwhelming and didn't present anything new. Still, when Jon reached a certain point, he discovered that the pages wouldn't turn anymore despite the existence of a lot of pages still remaining till the end of the book.

"That doesn't make sense." Jon frowned, "If this is all the Knowledge we can get from the infamous Oghma Infinium, then why bother?"

Jon tried to brute force his way into the remaining pages but they were tightly sealed and even his fingernails couldn't dig through them. The book was infuriatingly durable.

"Fuck!" Jon stepped away from the book after having the worst case of blue balls since his reincarnation. He was angry and upset to a degree that irritated him.

< Leave this one to me. Such tomes usually contain clues on how they were made across their content. Once analyzed, we may figure out a way to access the restricted sections. >

Jon turned the Oghma Infinium on the pedestal towards the Augur and walked away to think as he skipped back and forth in the chamber. He kept thinking and thinking before deciding to turn back and take one more look.

< It appears that there is some mysterious thing happening with this tome. >

The Augur said so but Jon couldn't really understand what the Augur meant until he looked closely at the text.

"What the…"

As if the ink on the pages was being dried out, the text and the magical diagrams were disappearing from the pages of the Oghma Infinium at a fast pace as if something was taking it all away.

"Hermaeus Mora!" Jon exclaimed, "He's trying to keep us from knowing the tome's secrets."

If it was like that, then Jon was absolutely right. Hermaeus Mora was interfering as fast as he could to keep Jon and the Augur from learning what he doesn't want to be learned.

Jon was desperately turning the pages of the book to spot something that he can hold in memory before it all disappears but he wasn't even given enough chances to do so.

"Fuck! Can't he just take the book away instead of doing this?!" Jon shouted in anger.

< The Contract between the Oghma and its Reader is for the latter to learn one chapter from the book before it can never be held by that reader ever again. It was the method that Hermaeus Mora used to keep people like you from learning too much. >

"Bastard!"

< The problem with you is that you are already aware of all the knowledge he affords to spare in the Chapter of the Path of Magicka. He can't let you know more secrets. That's who he is, the Prince of Secrets. >

"Really?" Jon angrily replied, "Then how about this?"

Jon immediately casts various runes around the chamber, runes that can generate many dimensional spells.

"Nefertiti, I want you to catch that book from the shadows and isolate it from the influences of Oblivion."

Nefertiti didn't reply but she seemed as angry as Jon was and immediately sent her shadow magic from the runes Jon had cast to hold the Oghma Infinium from various angles. Once she got a real grip on it, she started to do as Jon said and completely isolated the book from outside interference.

"Is that enough to keep the influence of Hermaeus Mora off the book?" Jon asked.

< Maybe. But you won't still be able to pull back the knowledge you need in a place Hermaeus Mora knows. You need to hide the book in a place he can never look into. >

"Shit!" Jon cursed, "Hide in a secret place from the Prince of Secrets? That's basically feeding him information when it is kept a secret."

As a force of nature, Hermaeus Mora is the knower of all secrets, he can't be kept away from a secret unless it involves another Original Spirit. And even those kinds of secrets he is actively hunting.

Just how to hide this tome away then?

"I've got an idea." But at this moment, Nefertiti spoke to Jon.

"Rub it in cat fur?" Jon asked, "Is Hermaeus Mora allergic to cats?"

< That… may actually work. >

"Yes. Evil beings can't withstand the might of cats." Jon made a quick deduction.

"That won't work, hooman." Still, Nefertiti denied Jon's last hope.

"No! Kitty cat, how can you say that?" Jon desperately spoke.

< What is your method, old neighbor? > The Augur then asked.

"Don't we have that?" Nefertiti materialized in the chamber and around her tail was the key that Nocturnal bestowed upon Jon.

The Shadowkey.

Now it was clear. A place even a Daedric Prince wouldn't find is beyond a Shadow Gate. Now that they have the Key, they only need the Gate.

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A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree" ⬅️


next chapter

Chapter 717: Shadow Gate

A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree" ⬅️

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Offending a Daedric Prince by messing with their prized Daedric Artifact. For some reason, Jon was quite forgetful of the last time something like that happened and how upset a Daedra was by what he did. And so when he was given the opportunity to do so again, he didn't even hesitate.

Jon would argue that he has offended many Daedra by now. He blackmailed Mehrunes Dagon by showing him images of the time the Avatar of Akatosh whooped his ass in the Imperial City and he took the Mace of Molag Bal and gifted it to Boethiah to be friends with her… or him… or them… whatever! [A/n: will I get mobbed if I misgender a Daedric Prince in the next Elder Scroll?]

Jon has also corrupted the Black Star and unwittingly made himself into a debt to Azura which he had to spend three years to pay. Some would say that Jon would learn a lesson or two from this incident but he can't be that predictable, can he?

And so when Hermaeus Mora withdrew the knowledge Jon wanted from the Oghma Infinium, Jon's bad habits just crawled out once again and he was there with his two besties (Nefertiti and the Augur) trying to fuck shit up… bigly!

"That fucker! He's trying to hold me back, isn't he? That didn't happen in the game? Why? Does he think Miraak is better than me or something?" Jon asked.

< It is certainly because of your skill and knowledge in the Arcane Arts. If you were to know more than what you already do, it would be problematic for him to be the one that teaches you. >

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Jon pouted and stomped on the ground, "I'm sure he is thinking let's not give this knowledge to Jon and let our favorite most dear Miraak have it."

< I don't think… Well, you do you. >

"Yes. Most certainly I will. Hmph!" Jon sat down with a stiff face while focusing on the thing that was happening in front of them.

< The process is proceeding smoothly from the side of the Shadow World but I am afraid the Oghma Infinium is trying to get away. >

"Fat chance!" Jon snorted and looked at the book with cold eyes, "Don't even think about getting away, book."

Unwilling to listen to Jon's orders, the book was attempting to slip through the void and travel anywhere far from Jon. Seeing this, Jon made an angry smile and pulled out an old journal.

"See that?" Jon asked while waving the journal at the Oghma's… front cover.

Jon opened the old journal and then tore out its first page violently while causing the paper to make a crunching sound as he utterly crushed it with his hands.

The Oghma Infinium gradually stopped making a ruckus as the journal was being torn to shreds in front of its very… front cover.

"Glad we're on… the same page!" Jon said.

< You know when you start to make less sense but you actually do make sense? >

"I do?" Jon asked.

< Nevermind that now. Check the shadows around the room. >

Jon looked beneath his feet and found that the shadows were getting darker and larger than usual.

"Talk to me." Jon called Nefertiti.

"It is too much, hooman." Nefertiti replied and peaked her head out of the shadows, "Hand!"

"Usually, I'm the one who says that." Jon mumbled before getting down on one knee and giving out his hand.

Nefertiti bit Jon's hand and swam through the shadows to a nearby wall before going into the wall with Jon's arm. What was left behind was a black portal-like darkness traced on the wall where Jon's arm was passing through.

"Oh!" Jon exclaimed while frowning.

His right hand went down with half of his forearm and he remained there crouching awkwardly. A few moments later, he started to feel some tingling around his hand.

"This feels nice." Jon smiled and started to look for the source of these tinglings.

As his hand came into contact with something soft, he started to move his hand around it to identify what it was.

"Huh! This feels… awkwardly kimochi!" Jon laughed.

"Hooman, what are you doing?" Nefertiti's voice came from all around the room.

"Not sure, to be honest." He replied.

"Alright. That thing you're touching…" She spoke.

"Yeah?" Jon listened.

"When I say grab, you grab and not let go." She said.

"O…kay." Jon replied suspiciously.

As he grabbed onto the thing, whatever it was, he felt something strange before suddenly feeling that his arm was being pulled into all sorts of directions.

"The… fuck!"

Jon tried to pull his arm back but despite his brute physical power, he was helpless against whatever that was and felt a sharp pain running through his arm.

"Hey! What is that?" Jon asked with pain visible on his face.

"You actually held that, hooman?" Nefertiti peeked her head from the shadows again, "I mean… I knew you could do it, hooman."

"What am I holding?" Jon asked with a concerned face, "It is starting to feel… slimy!"

"Just keep holding it in place." Nefertiti said and left Jon gritting his teeth.

Not a few seconds later, the chamber of the Augur started to shake with vibrations coming from outside.

"Something is happening?" Jon started to become worried.

< The chamber next to this one is collapsing. >

"What? Why?" Jon asked.

< The cat is doing it. >

"Collapsing a room in the Midden?"

< She's taking it with her to the Shadow side. >

Taking a room to the Shadow world wasn't something completely out of the scope of Jon's imagination or Nefertiti's power but the question remains, why?

Jon decided to ask his cat directly but her reply was, "Later, busy now, keep holding."

He had to stiffen his lips up and keep holding for the time being. Only half an hour of agonizing pain later when Nefertiti told Jon to let go.

As soon as he did, his arm started to recover slowly and as Nefertiti instructed him, he had to carefully take his arm out from the shadows.

It didn't seem threatening at first but as Jon took his arm out, he noticed that much of the hair over his arm was a bit gray and the skin of his arm seemed a bit wrinkly and aged despite still having its usual vigor.

There was a reason why no living mortal can stay too long in the Shadow world. Rapid Aging was just one of the dreadful effects of that place and only a being like Nefertiti can access the shadows freely without consequences and take people safely in and out of the shadow world.

As for Jon's aged arm, it wasn't the first time he experienced that state due to his constant exposure to the Shadow energy. It only needs a few hours for his arm to return to normal anyway.

But just as he got his entire arm out, he found that the thick shadows had started to gather in the spot where his arm was and formed a shape.

"Is that… a keyhole?" Jon asked.

But it hasn't stopped there. From that keyhole, a key started to come out, and lo and behold, it is a key Jon was very much familiar with. The Shadowkey.

"What do you think of this?" Jon asked the Augur.

< Looking into the shadows is not my thing. >

The Augur gave Jon an astral shoulder shrug which left the two clueless on the matter of this problem they're on.

"Hooman!" Nefertiti spoke to Jon.

"Yes?" Jon turned to look for her shadow that manifested itself on the nearby wall without her body coming out.

"You can enter now." She said.

"Enter?" Jon looked at the key in the keyhole and slowly extended his hand to it.

"Alright!" Jon said and turned the key, "Here I come…"

This was the turn of the unexpected to take place. Part of what Jon imagined (and from what he knows from the lore) is that a portal shall open. As for the shape of the portal…

"Fuck!" Jon exclaimed in long meaningful slang.

< Indeed! > The Augur seemed to agree with Jon's chain of thoughts.

"A vagina portal!" Jon turned to the Augur while pointing at the portal with that face.

< That's not what I thought about. > Or not.

"Really?" Jon asked with a frown, "I've always been trying to make this shape with my portals but they only become oval. Never worked with me."

"Hooman! Hurry!" Nefertiti called.

"Coming, kitty cat!" Jon instantly rushed through the portal while carrying the containment chest with the Oghma Infinium.

His vision darkened but gradually, he started to see around him and where he landed was a place awfully similar to the architectural structure of the Midden. Still, the place was very cold and desolate.

"Hmmm… what a weird place!" Jon exclaimed.

He stood up, since he landed on his face, and took a look around himself and finally saw something that left him in awe.

"Holy…" He exclaimed with a wild look on his face but didn't continue his exclamation.

"Get it out of your system, hooman." Nefertiti spoke.

"Holy Pussy!" Jon said it.

"Knew it."

In front of Jon was Nefertiti in a form he has never seen before.

Nefertiti, a sentry cat turned fey by the shadow element and exposure to the wild effects of the Daedric influence of Hircine, her patron. Since they are in a stable Shadow World environment, Jon could see this real form.

In the Realm of Hircine, Lord of the Hunt and Nefertiti's patron, there are said to be werecreatures from various shapes but in forms unseen before in the mortal realm. These creatures can be way larger than a common werewolf or a werebear. Some are said to be the size of a mammoth or a giant.

Jon saw Nefertiti in a size comparable to that of… well… a Dragon.

With tears in his eyes, Jon dropped the Oghma Infinium and hugged Nefertiti like a child hugging an enormous teddy bear.

"You've grown so much, girly. Daddy is so proud."

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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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