Download App
76.83% Dragonborn Saga / Chapter 576: The Caller

Chapter 576: The Caller

Sorry for the sudden break. I had a paper missing from my resume and I had to go through a ten-days course in a different city to issue it. Tell me how to make it up to you guys, really sorry!

———————————

"So you are the ones who barged into my home, killed my apprentices and ruined my work. How nice it is from you!"

"Give the books you stole back and no harm will reach you."

"Is that so? I might as well offer you a better deal. Surrender and I'll make it painless."

"Are you testing my patience, bitch?"

"You are the one who started it, whore."

"Goddamn!" Jon said, "I love it when women fight."

To explain what is happening, it was Alina facing off the Caller while Jon was sitting on the side watching the events unfold.

"You and this meat shield of yours, you both will answer for the offense of disturbing my work." The Caller said as she waved two staff at the same time summoning up a Storm Atronach with each spell.

"That's fast. Good control!" Jon commented.

"Are you on her side now?" Alina glared at him.

"Not at all, honey. I am just cheering for the nice play. Go on, squabble around you two while I root for you. No killing allowed, remember?"

The scene starts with three mages and all kinds of summoned creatures in a large circular room. Alina and Jon just barged in and the Caller, leader of Fellglow Fort mages was facing them with all her wrath. The Caller was, of course, a character that appeared in the game but it was always shrouded in mystery since the developers probably cut her from other content or were too lazy to establish a backstory for her.

She is a High Elf, a very strong mage and an excellent Conjurer just like Nurina. Jon wasn't sure where but he could sense a lot of shortcomings from her casts. It is as if she was having some difficulties maintaining magic. It was actually strange since that woman was actually a fearsome Boss from the game.

The interesting one in the fight, on the other hand, was Alina. One the Caller started teleporting a few times, Alina started trapping all the walls and floors around to fully shut the space preventing the Caller from teleporting and even calling creatures from Oblivion. Such a method was extremely hard yet she has done it with her left hand which needs a lot of concentration to keep so many runes up. On the other way, she simply spammed [Blizzard Blades] at the Caller like it was nothing. Alina's capacity of magic and ability to control were not just superior but profound and just natural. A divine gift if one should put it.

The Caller could no longer handle the pressure of Alina out of spite, she launched a spell towards Jon trying to distract Alina.

"Nice." Jon applauded and brushed away the coming lightning attack with the back of his hand causing it to repulse at the nearby alchemy station.

"Who… who on Nirn are you, people?"

Seeing Jon pull such an absurd trick, the Caller felt outmatched on the scales of Heaven and Nirn against such ability. She couldn't help but gather a bunch of Atronachs around her to make them meatshields for any elemental attack.

Yet to her question, Jon took the lead in front of Alina and displayed a hint of his overbearing presence.

"We told you we are from the College and we are here for some books." He said and took a step forward against the Caller who unintentionally stepped backward.

"You came into my home and killed everything that walks! How else do you expect me to react?" She shouted.

"Both you and I know very well you don't care for the lives of those minions of yours, Caller." Jon replied.

"You still don't kill a dog without the consent of its master." She said.

In a momentous reaction, Jon pointed at her with acknowledgment.

"That's true. Dogs as they are, they shouldn't be killed that easy. The only difference is that they are humans and most of them are aspiring to learn the arcane arts, their luck was so stinky as they fell into your hands but who am I to argue." Jon smiled and made his offer, "The lives of your dear precious dogs for the books you stole? Sounds like a deal now?"

"I didn't st…"

"What is that, Alina? Is that the sound of the bone grinding machine we stole from Mehrunes Dagon? I wonder what to do with it?" Jon turned to Alina who by her part shrugged her shoulders.

"You can have the damn books." The Caller said.

The books were sealed on three stands around the room and with a snap of her fingers, the seals were released.

"Much obliged. You can have your puppies back." Jon said and snapped his fingers in response.

With that, the books disappeared from their stands and in an instant, the room became filled with a number of people all of a sudden. They were all unconscious and quite in a bad shape yet no serious injuries however, the thing that all could notice the most was the odd shapes arching between their legs.

"That… shouldn't have happened." Jon looked between the two women awkwardly, "Venus."

With a strong shout, a strange object rose from among the bodies and a woman materialized while flying midair like a Flame Atronach. She saw Jon and smiled like a mischievous child before flying towards him and trying to appease him the same way Nefertiti does. The only difference is, Jon used a finger of his hand to shoot the gem on her forehead at the nearby wall.

"Stop making my prisoner horny."

As the image of the woman disappeared; the true form of [Lust], which has now become a pink colored gem, started to float around as if being sad it got hit.

"About that… this is totally my blunder. I will compensate…" Jon turned to the Caller with an honest face only to find her eyes glued at [Lust].

"What is that?" She asked.

The Caller's attention was shifted from everything right towards that thing she saw just now. [Lust], or to be more specific, it is the thing Jon called Venus.

This strange lifeform, a living thing which she completely could tell it is. A creature of such etherealness and mystery, a life beyond the life she knows, something she seeks or maybe it carries the answer to everything she ever searched for.

She looked at Jon and asked again, demanding more answers.

"How is there such a thing?"

"Oh! A curious one, aren't you?" Jon asked.

"This thing… is it actually alive? What is this state it is in?"

"Etherealness." Jon answered with a faint smile.

"Like… an immortal soul? An animus that is bound to the Mortal world?" She asked while still maintaining her cover behind her various atronachs.

"Why don't you come out and I tell you?" Jon said no that he left her with a teaser.

"We took our books and gave you back your people. It is all a fair trade now. We seek no more trouble, Caller." Alina said assisting Jon in pacifying.

"Like I will ever believe that?!" She turned to Jon now that she recognized him as the mastermind behind this attack, "You know something, don't you? About me."

Jon seemed to have been found out since he was simply acting from the start. The thing with [Lust] from a while ago was all his plan and he wouldn't even shy of admitting it.

"Me? Know things?" He asked, "Yes, that's what I do."

"What do you want?" She asked, "You certainly wanted me to see such a thing for something you want from me!"

The Caller was terrifyingly fast to catch on Jon's trick. Call it the wisdom of age or whatever but this woman is hundreds of years old and is considered an elder even among the High Elves.

"My name is Jonhild Firemane. This is my wife Alina Firemane and I go by the name Jon Dare." He said.

"The Dragon of Winterhold." She said recognizing the name that Jon was called with by Ulfric once, "And this must be the Red Witch."

"I hate that name." Alina frowned.

"You didn't do anything other than confirming it even more, wife. I mean, I love red too but your wardrobe is… alright, I'll stop talking now." Jon turned away as she glared at him back to the Caller, "As you figured it out, I came seeking something. The entrance was a little bit… crude. My apologies."

"Not at all." The Caller said even though she didn't let her guard down even once, "But I expect something in return and… compensation."

"I'll pay for the damage, redecorate this bland place and even install a swerve system down your fort if you want to." Jon offered.

"I prefer knowledge. That's what I can offer, and that's what I seek most."

"Why not? It seems we have come to an agreement. Told you we can work this out." Jon clapped his hands and all smiles… fake as he always smiles to enemies.

"What is it you require, Jon Dare?"

The Caller's question provided a one-way ticket to her library of boundless knowledge all stored in her head. She is an expert in souls and incorporeal matters and even more, her knowledge of Vampires is top-notch and can be considered one of the few mages who were on the hunt for vampires to commence trials on them. Apart from that, she is also a criminal who conducted various experiments on mortals as well and knows her ways around those things.

The Coven of the Caller wasn't that famous as she was always covering her tracks but Jon knew how this woman operates. Aside from being an open researcher with no ethics or restrictions on how she researches, she is very well known in the Black Market as a producer of advanced and experimental products. On top of all that, she has some sort of fascination towards vampirism even though she is not a vampire. From what it seems, she is trying to get the advantage of vampirism away from the disadvantages and create something unique. And to make things even more interesting, this woman seems to be serving a Daedric Prince as well since her soul can't be trapped as if sworn to a Daedra of a kind.

It can be either Azura or Meridia if Jon tried to narrow it down since the two are known for their vicious natures when it comes to experimenting and seeking knowledge.

"Alright. I'll go straight to the matters." Jon said at last as he recovered [Gluttony], "I am having trouble controlling this bad boy."

"That is?"

"A Blood Parasite. Vampiric and plant-based…"

Jon started explaining the nature of Gluttony to the Caller as she finally agreed to drop her guard down if he gives her his word not to attack. Truthfully, Jon was hesitant to share information about one of the sins but he was at a difficult spot with [Gluttony] of all things. The damn parasite was so uncontrollable and Jon could use a fresh set of eyes to shed more light on it.

The Caller was fully taken aback by the absurdness of enchanting something with one's own soul and blood. A normal person should feel so weakened just by attempting to create a Soul Artifact like [Gluttony] and not only Jon had one of them but two as she noticed [Lust] as well.

But Jon's questions didn't really end here but rather, they became deeper and more challenging the more he and the Caller exchanged knowledge. Even those unconscious lackeys were long since up and driven out from the inner sanctum.

"A Leech is a being different from any other. While it can survive on its own for a limited time, it can't function properly without continuous contact with a host. It will be violent and greedy while trying to establish its own source of energy at first but to get through such a situation, it must be slowly controlled through letting it consume. A parasite can't be rejected for it to take effect."

"This is troubling." Jon reacted with discontent.

"But for you to manage to mutate a parasite, link it to your soul through enchantment and infect it with vampirism? I don't know whether you are lucky or even luckier. Just what kind of vampirism you used to transfer the infection?... Oh, and what are its powers?"

Jon looked at the Caller with annoyance as he wouldn't really just say that the Blood of a Daughter of Coldharbour is what cultivated such parasites but he had to give her something according to the agreement.

"I will present you with details on how the mechanism of such a parasite works." Jon nodded.

The topics Jon asked about afterwards were all Vampire related. Vampire weaknesses, Vampire abilities, Vampirism cure and all there is to kill, trap and interrogate vampires.

At that moment, Jon even came up with a few business prepositions. If he could capture any vampires, he would hire the Caller for their interrogation and holding. Even more, the Caller and her coven will present their own unethical methods as a source of knowledge to the DDC in secret. Many errors can be avoided through those guys and they are a tail that can be cut and left out whenever proved unworthy.

And who is more qualified than Alina to be keeping an eye on them?

With that, Jon established his own underground vampire research and torture facility. An idea that will prove vital in the fights yet come.

———————————

Next 3 Chapters & Discord URLs

↓↓↓↓↓

→ https://linktr.ee/donovel ←


next chapter

Chapter 577: Kill Steal

Next 3 Chapters & Discord URLs

↓↓↓↓↓

→ https://linktr.ee/donovel ←

———————————

This morning, Falkreath woke up on the news of a murder. Someone under the light of day while the Jarl was touring the town and that one was none other than the Jarl's own guard, Helvard.

Almost the whole town witnessed what happened. Almost everything went in the bloodiest of ways. One moment Halvard was following the Jarl, the next he was facing an angry woman who dug her fangs into his neck and made his blood splatter covering every inch of Jarl Seddgeir.

To the calm and quiet Falkreath, this was terror incarnate, for the kill is the Jarl's strongest arm and the killer is a Vampire.

With such an incident about a Vampire targeting a Jarl, every corner in Skyrim was alerted to the existence of those vampires attacks as it would that those beasts have finally grown bold enough to go after the better men and the blue blood.

Jarl Seddgeir survived the attack with three of his men falling victims to the claws of the vampire and while all that happened, the monster still escaped. Who would blame the Jarl for cashing out every favor he has to alert every hold in Skyrim and put a bounty on the Vampire?

The thing that everyone failed to notice was the fine details of the incident itself. Surely anyone who is killing the people of the Jarl is after the Jarl himself but that logic is flawed since Helvard was the Jarl closest man in both rank and action. He would always follow Jarl Seddgeir like his shadow and be alert from every hostile aura targeting his Lord yet a Certain Woman saw this from a whole different perspective.

As she walked in Falkreath carrying a basket of vegetables and dressed like a farmer, she smiled at the townsfolk who recognized her as the woman who sells fruits every Fredas at Falkreath's market. She has a farm outside the town somewhere in a nearby village but no one really cares for a mere villager with dirty clothes.

She walked on the muddy street avoiding the coming and going horses, bowed to a Thane patrolling the streets and took the long turn around the Jarl's Longhouse to avoid the security checkpoint around the area.

Falkreath was locked tight.

She found the Alchemist Shop of Falkreath in the innermost corner of town where the buildings meet the mountain and she put the fruit basket on the ground then sat on the wooden sidewalk with her back against the stonewall of the shop. She looked like a simpleton from a village with her old looking dress stained with five inches of mud around the hem of her dress.

"Fresh vegetables! This morning's pick! Fresh vegetables."

As she shouted the same as any villager who sells their fruits in the local street, people started looking at her with annoyance as she was totally out of place. Whoever wants to sell their products go to the market in the middle of town, not in this secluded quiet place. However, the person who got annoyed the most about this noisy villager was none other than Zaria, the owner of Grave Concoctions alchemy store.

Zaria was just brewing some minor healing potions for the morning and had a lot in mind lately so the voice of a villager selling their veggies outside her door was clearly an unwelcome interference. She grabbed a mop and with heavy steps towards the outside of her shop, she went on with her hot-headed Redguard temperament.

"Who in the name of Bal would come to…"

As she raised her mop to shoo off the villager woman, Zaria's feet froze and the muscles of her body stiffened with an instinctive reaction to the stare she received. If stares can kill then the villager's stare was one that snaps necks and slits throats.

"Zari, dear. Been a while." The woman spoke in a tone so clear and yet so faint only Zaria could hear.

The accent changed, the attitude switched, the temperament wasn't that of a rough villager but rather a silent hunter, a deadly trapper, a beast waiting.

Zaria recognized whom she's up against and lowered the mop she raised with cold shivers running on her dark skin.

"Astrid."

"Dear! You look unwell. Is it so dark in there with all the potions and… other things."

Zaria, a mere owner of an alchemy shop or so she seems, met with Astrid, a power-hungry woman who happens to be the leader of the Sanctuary of the Dark Brotherhood.

Of course, the two of them have had prior knowledge of each other. It may even extend to be called History.

"Come on in." Zaria felt strange meeting Astrid this way thus she cleared the way for her inside the shop but Astrid seemed rather… uncaring.

"To be fully honest with you, dear Zari, we are having a situation here. A situation where trust is an issue at the moment. Excuse my caution, of course. Never walk into the den of an alchemist not knowing their intentions, they say." Astrid said with a faint smile on her mud-stained face.

Zaria could see the air of caution looming around Astrid and towards none other than her. This complicates things.

"Astrid, how long have we known each other?"

"You tell me, Zari."

"Then believe me when I tell you it has nothing to do with me."

"Oh! I didn't even begin to ask anything." Astrid laughed, "You are a dear, Zari. I wouldn't suspect you would have any other means other than us to deal with poor Helvard. Still, your revenge against him may have driven you… impatient."

"Impatient?" Zaria dropped all mannerisms of Astrid and glared at her, "You know what this did to me and my sister. Impatient is the word that fits me best while you were stalling for more time and money."

"Hold on! Hold on! Hold on!" Astrid acted a little bit on the retreat, "I haven't done anything about it just because the man was the Jarl's dog. Believe me, killing r@pists is a thing we do for free if possible."

"And I upheld my end of the bargain." Zaria said, "Wherever that vampire witch came from, it has nothing to do with me."

"But to kill Helvard, of all people, and while the Jarl is parading? And in the daylight of all things? This vampire surely has a style." Astrid said, "Yet she stole my contract, my kill… this is something I can't just let pass by."

"As I said, I have nothing to do…"

"Well, I don't even care." Astrid said as she got up, "But given your history, dear Zari, you know a thing or two about Vampires, Undead and all that tones. I have a vampire close friend but I wouldn't ask her to track another fellow vampire before I know what I am dealing with so I have come to you. You have some of those tracking scrolls and spells from the old coven that used to operate in the graveyard, don't you?"

Zaria kept staring at Astrid before confirming the question with a nod.

"Alright. I hope to get some… on the house." Astrid said.

"What track do you have?" Zaria asked.

"A few fabrics in the forest, footprints, a faint scent… the usual stuff."

"I'll find you something."

"Do give me some Poison for Apples, dear. I haven't had fun with those nasty things in years."

"You people still use that? Don't people already suspect it to be your doing ever since the past Era?"

"Sometimes the old methods are the best ones." Astrid replied, "Sometimes what is old only needs to be purged."

Zaria shivered faintly and retreated to her shop then after a minute, she came with two potion vials and a scroll.

"Here's the apple poison. This scroll makes the undead unwary of you. It should keep slumbering vampires unconscious." She said.

"And the other vial?"

"If you have a hunting dog or a trained wolf, you can feed this concoction to it. It helps heighten their senses but gives them an upset stomach the next day, hunters use them all the time. You have a hunting beast, don't you?"

"I have the best." Astrid confirmed with a smile that only she understood what it meant.

"That's all then. Don't find me again."

"It's a pleasure, dear Zari."

Zaria walked back to her shop suspiciously watching Astrid who kept on with her disguise as she went on and sold her veggies until the guard chased her away.

***

Outside Falkreath near a river, Astrid emerged from the lake with her upper body naked and a man behind her back. She was drying her wet blonde hair from the water she just took a plunge in and asked for the man to help her with a towel.

"So, we are letting Zaria off the hook?" Arnbjorn asked.

"Husband, things won't be fun if we keep on killing whoever crosses us. Let them think of us what they want to think. We are not the Thieves Guild, are we? We don't need to go around making ourselves the top dogs wherever we go." Astrid spoke as she got closer to her hot-headed husband.

"Grrr! I still think it is a bad idea leaving loose ends."

"Who said we are leaving loose ends. Everyone wants someone dead eventually and once the other alchemists in town are tired with Zaria, someone will pay us to twist her neck and make it look like an accident."

"Hehehe! I like this. Fine."

As Arnbjorn finished helping his wife bathe, she put on her armor and presented him with the items she received.

"Any of these would be of use?" She asked.

"You'd have to ask Festus about the scroll but this potion looks authentic. I smell no poison in it." He replied.

"Good." Astrid returned the items to her bag and complained, "Every time I get into some old ladies disguise, I feel like my skin is crawling."

"We've aged well, wife. All this killing doesn't just twist your mind but gives your soul a… certain vigor and youth." He said.

"Don't start speaking like Festus for everyone's sake. The old ways this, the old ways that." She seemed rather annoyed with the mystic way of things.

"Don't be like that, I don't feel good about the old ways either but the Brotherhood has roots and with time they shall link to us. You know that, don't you?" Arnbjorn warned her.

"We are one of the last standing sanctuaries, husband. It was us who kept the others safe, not the tenets… not the old ways and certainly not Sithis. We would have been purged by the Last Listener if things were to go south."

"I get you… but…"

"No buts… it is all us now… all those who are left. I don't want to tread down that path ever again."

Astrid and Arnbjorn seemed to have been distressed lately. Actually, the last twelve years were nothing but distress to the Sanctuary of Falkreath. Being the last in Skyrim with the contact cut from the Sanctuaries of Cheydinhal of Cyrodiil and Wayrest while being pushed out of business in Morrowind and Black Marsh by the Morag Tong. Things looked grim for what is likely to be the last surviving Assassins.

If they were to follow the old ways of the Dark Brotherhood, it would have been the end of them all or so Astrid believed. So if they were to survive, they would need a new way. No Tenets, no Night Mother, no Listener and certainly no Black Hand. Just Astrid and her little gang of killers using the name of the Dark Brotherhood to act like hired hitmen.

The Sanctuary of Falkreath has strayed from the path of Sithis, the Dread Father, for over a decade by far. A wrong that had to be corrected for the balance to find itself back to the world.

Yet ironically, Astrid and Arnbjorn sat out to find the one who stole a contract from them as according to tradition, those who take a kill away from the Brotherhood are indebted with one and one they shall return. This is the only way for them to increase their numbers and keep the blood flowing.

A vampire it is or a werewolf, it never made a difference who they recruit. They have many children of the night in their ranks and always prided themselves to be a family of those with tendencies that transcend the normal takers of lives and harvesters of souls.

But with the Dark Brotherhood being a shadow from its former self, another was lying in waiting and ready to rise from its ash. But for something to rise, it must reach ruin and that's where Astrid and Arnbjorn were heading.

To their Ruin.

———————————

Next 3 Chapters & Discord URLs

↓↓↓↓↓

→ https://linktr.ee/donovel ←


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
El_Don El_Don

Her you! Yes, you. Don't forget to vote... Power Stones!

Load failed, please RETRY

Weekly Power Status

Batch unlock chapters

Table of Contents

Display Options

Background

Font

Size

Chapter comments

Write a review Reading Status: C576
Fail to post. Please try again
  • Writing Quality
  • Stability of Updates
  • Story Development
  • Character Design
  • World Background

The total score 0.0

Review posted successfully! Read more reviews
Vote with Power Stone
Rank 200+ Power Ranking
Stone 176 Power Stone
Report inappropriate content
error Tip

Report abuse

Paragraph comments

Login

tip Paragraph comment

Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.

Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.

GOT IT