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95.6% Dragonborn Saga / Chapter 717: Shadow Gate

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" ⬅️


next chapter

Chapter 718: Hungry Ghosts

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

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Unlike what Jon had expected, there was much going on in this Shadow World.

"This is not the Shadow World."

But it isn't the Shadow World as Nefertiti stated.

"What is it then?" Jon asked.

"A Shadow Gate." She replied.

"Can't a Shadow Gate lead to a Shadow World?" Jon asked.

"Silly, hooman! Shadow World isn't a place for anyone to be in." She said and brushed Jon off her head, "Annoying!"

Seeing such a large cat, Jon couldn't resist the temptation of climbing on her back. He wasn't thinking about riding his beloved cat but what he really wanted was to take a dive in her overwhelming fluff.

"So, let's get serious. What exactly did you do?" Jon asked.

"We did capture a Shadow Anomaly." Nefertiti said.

"Like Greed?" Jon asked.

"No shadow anomaly is like any other shadow anomaly. What they are can be considered different things that are neither living nor dead, neither matters nor lifeforms." She said.

"Woah!" Jon approached Nefertiti's face and rubbed it closely, "When did our little kitty cat get so smart… URGH!"

"Let go!"

Just as he started hugging her, Nefertiti struck him with a horizontal paw strike that made him completely disappear from where he was.

"What the fluff! Hooman!" Nefertiti realized how hard she hit Jon and looked in the direction she hit him.

Indeed Jon was there at a fair distance planted in a wall. It seemed that Nefertiti's strength in her original form is way too much for him to contend again.

"You okay?" She ran to him and used her teeth to drag him out.

"Ah! My head!"

Lying on the ground, he started to move left and right while holding his head before attempting to stand.

"Remind me to never piss you off again!" He said and tried to sober up from the dizziness before looking at where he was just now.

The wall that he crashed into was regenerating slowly. Jon forgot all about his aching head and stared at the wall.

"Material Regeneration! It is not even mending itself from its broken pieces. How fascinating!" Jon completely forgot about what happened and got really worked up over some nerdy phenomenon.

"The nature of this place can afford that." Nefertiti said.

"Right!" Jon looked around at the place they were in and kept thinking about its structure.

It all looked like a large chamber in the Midden where many pathways led to other chambers. It was, of course, a reflection of the real Midden and Jon knew how the shadow world reflects reality.

The atmosphere of this place was also strange and stale as if it was felt with dust and soot instead of humidity and ice. There was an absence of temperature and air currents despite the ability to breathe. Also, it felt gloomy and depressing.

"It feels disconnected from the world itself and it is giving me bad memories from my time in the Chaos of Worlds." Jon said.

"We used the shadow anomaly you were holding as the base material for this place."

"As base material how?" He asked.

"Shadow is unstable. I had you hold the anomaly to anchor it to reality while I made a bridge for you to pass into this place. Do you know this area where the river meets the sea?"

"Yeah. You mean the boundaries between river water and saltwater."

"That's what I meant. You can think of our two worlds like river water and saltwater. They mix but not on the surface. What we did with the anomaly is to go behind the surface and create a shadow gate."

"Hmmm…" Jon couldn't seem to understand right away but the concept was enticing him to study it further.

But just as he was about to ask his questions, he felt a strange presence coming from the corridors around this part of the shadow gate.

"Something is not right." Jon said.

"Yes." Nefertiti sighed, "Other Shadow Anomalies seemed to have found this space."

"Other anomalies?" Jon frowned, "That doesn't sound good if my understanding is right."

"Since an anomaly was slain and its shadow energy was spread, they are here to devour that." Nefertiti explained.

"I see." Jon nodded as his thoughts were almost behind Nefertiti, "Alright then, go get them, girl."

"Why?" She asked.

"Well… obviously they are beings of shadow. They aren't really my specialty to deal with and since they are neither living nor undead, I have no idea how to deal with them." He said before pausing, "Unless I am wrong which doesn't make sense to be…"

"You're wrong." She replied.

"See? I knew I was wrong."

"Shadow Anomalies must materialize to enter a Shadow Gate and devour it." She said.

"Materialize, huh!" Jon made an understanding face as he looked around and saw the vicious-looking aberration creatures, "I love dealing with materialized twats. All you need to do is to find where the ass is and kick it."

The Shadow Anomalies materializing, it was a sight to fear. One can compare their appearances with the eldritch horrors from a Lovecraftian Japanese manga made by a mangaka with psychological issues.

"Ewww!" Even Jon was somewhat unable to make peace with what his eyes were seeing.

"Deal with them." Nefertiti said.

"No, you better deal with them." Jon replied.

"No, Hooman! My paws will get dirty again." She retorted.

"Fine." Jon shouted in impatience, "But I'm only using magic."

With the staff in his hand, Jon aimed it up with a fire spell and started shooting.

"Fireball!" "Fireball!" "Fireball!" "Fireball!"

"Shouldn't you just…"

"Nope! FIREBALL!"

Jon was sparing no effort at sparing no anomalies. Those hideous creatures looked like mishmashes of too many creatures coming together in all manner of nasty ways.

One can see a man's body with extremely thin limbs coming out with the head of a frog and fish gills lining his chest, another was a shark coming out from the torso of a troll and using many arms and legs to crawl around, another was like a bunch of human heads with large and small eyes linked up with multiple limbs and moving together like tumbleweeds.

Jon managed to understand that these anomalies are… or were shadows of real creatures before. The only incident that would cause a shadow to separate from its body is death and in the Shadow Word, many lost shadows roam the place in endless agony. This causes some shadows to entangle with each other and eventually go berserk to officially become known as Shadow Anomalies.

Since every anomaly is formed from several different creatures, they are inherently unique as Nefertiti stated. While it is unknown why the shadows would roam the Shadow World after the death of their owners and since it has nothing to do with souls, Jon couldn't really understand more than that.

But one thing is certain here, the Shadow Anomalies are like zombies, and the material objects, whether living or dead objects, are like brains to them. They just go for it mindlessly.

When Jon observed the behavior of the anomalies once they got attached to other things, he realized that even though they still keep their anomalous nature, they become very stable and eventually eat away the shadow of the object and fall back into the shadow world.

"Huh! So this is like… haunting?" Jon mumbled.

"Precisely, my well-educated friend!" And someone answered his question cheerfully.

"WOAH!"

"FLUFF!"

Jon immediately reacted and put a Fireball on the face of the person who just spoke to him. Nefertiti received that person as they flew over in her direction and hit them with her mighty paw returning them to Jon.

"Wait!" The person tried to stop their relentless attacks but…

"Fuck you! Who do you think you are to scare me?!" Jon hit the man with his staff.

"Fluff off! Stupid mortal!" Nefertiti bounced up and beat down the man as well.

"Stop!"

"No!" Jon kept beating up the man who was cowering on the ground.

"Hisssss!" Nefertiti rhymed her paw strikes with Jon's staff strikes and kept hitting him one after the other.

"Just… Enough!"

As for the man, he was already fed up with all the beating and shouted out loud realizing an astonishing amount of pure Shadow Energy.

Seeing the stranger this angry, Jon and Nefertiti kept their guard up and circled the man to his flanks.

"For fuck's sake, Jon. You and your cat hit like trucks." The man exclaimed.

"Wait!" Jon frowned as he saw the face of the man he saw only once before, "Is it you… Shadow?"

"No shit, genius! Who else would it be?" Shadow, who was in complete human form for the second time, cussed at Jon angrily.

"Shadow?" Nefertiti asked, "Your imaginary friend?"

"You tell people that?" Shadow asked Jon.

"I have to make an excuse, you know." Jon said.

"Hooman, which Shadow is that?" Nefertiti asked.

"The one from the Future." Jon said, "The others from the past and present feel more sinister. This is the one that saved me and Nurina in the Inverted Tower."

"Hmmm!" Nefertiti smelled the Shadow in front of her and looked away, "Smells alright, hooman."

"Heh! Glad I passed." Shadow grinned and looked at Jon, "So you finally stepped your sorry ass into my turf."

"This is your turf?" Jon asked.

"All Shadows are, I'm like the Divine of Shadows in your world." Shadow said.

"Talk more sense, please. Why are you here?" Jon asked.

"This is the first time you see me and not in an urgent shit. At least show some respect, you son of a gun." Shadow said.

He looked like a tall man with sharp features, golden eyes, and jet-black long hair. He was a head shorter than Jon but he was standing confidently in front of him.

"You were saying something about those?" Jon asked.

Shadow looked at the shadow anomalies and sighed.

"Where I come we call them Hungry Ghosts. They mostly get exorcized by narrow-minded folk but to me, they are the best ingredient for my sorcery."

"Shadows are Ghosts?" Jon looked at the sluggish entities and kept thinking, "Remnants of souls?"

"You can say that." Shadow replied.

"Damn! These are some ugly ass ghosts?" Jon repulsively looked away.

"Agreed."

"How do they form anyway?"

"So, when you destroy someone's life and lead them to their doom, their resentment becomes the thing that haunts you. The bigger the grudge, the bigger the resentment. The more grudges you make, the more resentments you accumulate. Once the people accumulating such resentments die, the resentment finds nowhere to go and roam the world before getting absorbed into this place."

"Shit! That's dark." Jon said before thinking about something and asking, "How do I know if there are any resentments rubbing off on me?"

Jon's question made Shadow astonished.

"Some people have special eyes that can see that kind of thing." Shadow replied.

"So, are there any on me?" Jon asked.

"There should be but that thing you have, you call it Greed, I think. It ate them all away." Shadow said.

"Guess I have to reward Greed someday." Jon said and then focused on Shadow, "And you, why are you telling me all this? And why are you here, anyway?"

"Oh, right. I had to say hey to you in person for the first time properly and there is one thing you have to know." Shadow said.

"What?" Jon asked.

"The city you're in, I don't know Winterfell or something…"

"Winterhold."

"Right." Shadow nodded, "It's under attack!"

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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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