Chapitre 363: Beauty and the Beast
A/n: So I was supposed to be on Eid Break and I really enjoyed i… okay, who am I kidding!? I just slept for two days straight with nothing to do. T^T ... That's why I worked on research about Serana's age and how old are the Volkihars. I'll share it on both Reddit and at the end of the chapter.
Also, this is a 4K words (research is not included), so it is a double chapter for today and the 5K votes.
Anyways, Eid Mubarak.
~~~~~~~~~~
*9 Days until the Battle of Winterhold*
The Pale, a Hold that shares borders with Winterhold from the West and the South governed by Jarl Skald the Elder. However, on the other side of the Hold, there was a big secret being unearthed.
Jon was covered by a cloak provided by the vampires of Volkihar. It was a very rare fabric called the Void Cloth, it gets extracted from a medium height plant with blue stems and blue flowers called the Void Bloom. As hard as it is to find the plant, the extraction can be refined into threads then tailored into Void Cloth that has an extraordinary ability to hide presences and conceal signals, and here is the thing… once that cloth touched Jon's skin, [Greed] made an absolute mess inside the [Cube]. It was insanely trying to jump out and devour that delicious material.
Right now, Jon was watching the entrance of a certain cave being unearthed and sitting outside on a stone being watched by both Fura and Garan.
Barely suppressing [Greed] that was going on a rampage, Jon let out a few parts of the damn thing to go out and started devouring the cloak bit by bit then replace the eaten parts with more of [Greed].
When [Greed] devoured the shadow sword [Shadowrend] some time ago, it possessed the ability to understand metallic objects and Reshape them like [Shadowrend] which can reshape itself as well. Jon wouldn't miss a chance for his first Deadly Sin artifact, that is also part of his soul, to reach a higher potential.
Still, to not make it noticeable, Jon started chatting with the two Vampire Lords next to him.
"... Then I jumped off the building and shouted at the loudest of my voice 'Bitch, my surname is Dare' and splash down the canal. It was a glorious day."
"Can this Nord stop talking." Garan was clearly annoyed by Jon.
"Don't ask me." Fura was barely holding back her irritation.
"Oh! That reminds me, back in my past life…"
"Argh!"
"Again with that?"
The two couldn't hold it anymore and took distance from Jon. Fura started sharpening her greatsword and Garan opened a book.
"Oh! Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes by Mankar Camoran. That's one rare book." Jon talked to Garan.
"You know about books?"
"Of course, I am a mage myself."
"Humph! Calling yourself a mage? You Nords know nothing other than swinging your big swords like morons." Gara, originally a Dark Elf, talked back at Jon with a hint of his words directed at Fura.
She paused for a second before going back again at her usual.
"Hey, that's one idiotic insult. I am a capable mage and also a capable warrior who can swing his big sword like a moron all day long… just point me at a brothel and I'll show you real swordplay."
"You are getting on my nerves, rich boy." Fura pointed her sword at Jon.
"Oh, look. You two are actually talking now… I still have that tale about Dragons that I always tell about my past life… let's see it starts at…"
"My head!"
"Someone stop him."
Jon used the deadliest of his arsenal, the Chatterbox Technique. Inheriting the Egyptian technique that was refined through 5000 years from days of the most ancient civilization on Earth, Jon made the vampires wish to stay as far away from him as they can get.
By that distraction, [Greed] has already completely taken over the Void Cloth Cloak and started showing signs of evolving.
The true nature of [Greed] is aethereal which led Jon to consider it a Shadow Aether, something that can be seen as Matter and Energy at the same time. By [Greed]'s nature, its favorite food other than Jon's Magicka is things that have a Shadow Nature and that Void Cloth happened to be one. By devouring the cloth, [Greed] can now morph into a fabric form.
Jon was extremely happy with the change.
Now, instead of the Void Cloth, [Greed] was covering Jon which meant he is free from the effect of having his magic signal blocked from reading. He also can now connect himself back to the System fully.
'Alexa! You there?'
<Reconnecting 1%... 45%... 79%... 100%>
<Welcome back, Admin.>
<Syncing your Data with the main unit!>
<You have 4337 Notifications!>
'... Fuck! This is worse than my e-mail back in the day.'
<Second Admin has logged in through the Main Unit. Second Admin is now offline.>
'Oh! Alina found it. Good! I think she found out what to do without me now.'
Jon was happy. Some time ago, he decided to make an Emergency measure and disconnected himself from the Augur then put the Astral Extension in a device with the ability to manipulate the Binary Enchantments. With that, Jon could have his own analysis device without putting too much workload on the Augur. He also can now edit his own System programming to his preferences and the Augur can access it for Data whenever he wanted.
He also gave Alina access to the Main System Unit in case anything happened.
The Technological advance of Jon's own gadgets has taken a completely Sci-Fi turn compared to the Continent's current magical technology.
With him being assured that Alina will commence his plans, Jon started writing a message to assure her and tell that he has a plan to escape and will be there in the span of 9 days. As he didn't have to do anything while the entrance to the cave was being unearthed, Jon kept sending more information about his situation to Alina telling her what to do and completed some important schematics for certain items.
The vampires thought he was under the control of the Void Cloak and the Magic Shackles but he had already got rid of the cloak and the shackles were nothing but a toy in his eyes compared to his true level of power.
"Why is that human so silent all of a sudden?" Garan noticed how silent Jon became.
"Hm? Right? Hey, are you up to something?" Fura shouted at Jon.
"Eh… what? Oh! I- I dozed off… what were we saying? Dragons, yes. Right… the second verse of the story…"
""SHUT UP!""
"... Oh! Sorry."
Jon's dumb act that was refined through years of hard work kept him clear from trouble. He kept his head under the cloak's hood and feigned sleeping.
***
The Vampires' Thralls finished the work for their masters and Jon took the lead in the cave following him were the Vampire Lords Garan and Fura followed by the Lesser Vampires and the Thralls. Being non-vampires, the thralls were used as a meat shield whenever there was a trap detected.
Jon had no remorse for the thralls despite being humans too. This thing was that thralls were originally bandits attacked by vampires and used to add up to the force of the vampire by being hypnotized with the vampires' eyes.
Once the cavern ended and the ruins started to appear, Garan started nodding to himself.
"These are Nordic ruins indeed. If I am not wrong, this should be 'Dimhollow Crypt'."
"So the so-called Child of Prophecy was right? We'll find an Elder Scroll here?" Fura asked.
"That is yet to be seen." Garan urged the team forward.
Sure enough as any other Nordic tomb, the place was infested with Draugrs, deadly traps and sometimes giant spiders.
Jon was casually moving around navigating through Nefertiti's guiding from the Shadow World, she could tell discover traps or enemies a day away so the trip in the crypt was smooth.
As the excavation teams spend almost half a day exploring the crypt, they finally arrived in a large room that can almost take an Olympic Stadium inside it. Jon pointed out the traps and walked to the balcony overlooking the room.
"This is… way better than I ever thought." Fura was amazed by the sight.
The room wasn't just large, it had a deep bottom and a high ceiling. In the bottom, water submerged the floor and a high circular platform was built. This platform had a strange architecture that can only be seen in Castle Volkihar.
Jon walked down the balcony and crossed the bridge across the room to the platform. There as no enemies on this side of the room.
"What is this place?" Fura asked.
"Here lies the Elder Scroll and… another Ancient Vampire." Jon said.
"You sure?"
"Only one way to find out."
Jon looked around the circular platform that was made of dark stone and found all the key parts about it. The floor was carved in circles and there were braisers and a small altar in the center.
"What now?"
"..."
Jon didn't reply as he walked to one of the Thralls and dragged him by his nape to the center. The vampires frowned as they didn't like Jon's attitude acting out of line but none stopped him.
Anticipating what was going to happen, Jon held the man and carried him high with his two hands then slammed him on the altar. With the impact, the altar reacted and a sharp head grew from it skewering the thrall and draining some blood. With that, the carving on the floor started to show signs of change and harmless purple flames appeared on them in a certain pattern.
"A puzzle? This should be easy." Garan said as he started thinking but Jon was already solving it which irritated the vampire.
He moved the braziers to follow the trail of the purple flames and each time the flames started to take another pattern which he had to follow. From the center to the outside back to the center, the puzzle was already solved.
The floor of the platform shook the areas around its center started to sink down. The ones standing on the edges of the platform fell from it to undefined fate and the ones in the middle held to the ground.
The central altar started to rise showing a thick monolith under it and the monolith's surface showed signs of opening. As Jon went forward to check it out, the two Vampire Lords pushed Jon back and stood in front of the monolith in anticipation.
The cover slid open slowly and its inside was dark, as the dim light started to illuminate the inside of the hollowed monolith.
A thin figure of a black-haired maiden that almost tried to walk out of her petrified state from the inside of that monolith stumbled on her steps and tripped down powerlessly.
Once she tripped and her back was exposed, everyone around could see the thing she was carrying. A cylinder object of unknown material yet magnificent and majestic appearance. It was nothing like any and none was like. A singularity of art and piece of music. Where songs and dreams are the same. A perfect yet mysterious object.
The maiden groaned as she started to rise and the object on her back hid behind her again. She stood up while staggering and examined the people around her. A Dark Elf man with short hair in a familiar dress, a Nord woman with a greatsword and wary expressions, a large man in a black cloak with a curious aura around him with blue eyes gleaming from under his hood and a bunch of minor characters behind them.
The people who saw the girl were gratified by her appearance. She was a verse in the law of beauty even though she was pale and thin. Well shaped features, beautiful arched eyes and hints of royalty in each detail about her. Few could make people feel inferior around them and that girl's appearance was already putting a large amount of pressure on the vampires around without even a single hint of energy leaking from her.
"... Who… who sent you?" The girl spoke in a dry voice. She was having a struggle keeping her mind together with the long slumber she woke from.
"... This… you must be…"
Before the Dark Elf could say anything, a drop of blood came from above and descended down on the girl's cheek.
It was from the corpse of the thrall that Jon used to activate the puzzle. Jon saw that and his lips arched up in a smile.
The girl's face started to turn. There was beauty no more. Only a savage brutal expression appeared on her face with a strong lust for blood tingling on all her nerves. Hundreds of years under seal in slumber would make a vampire go insane with all the thirst that comes all of a sudden from the tiniest whiff of blood, let alone a whole damn drop.
As the girl's face turned, her mouth opened for her four long fangs to appear and her claws extended ten inches each, she was a wolf in a herd of sheep.
All she wanted was to feed and lo and behold, the nearest human was standing there tall and mighty behind those two vampires as a buffet of everything that is sweet and tasty. It felt as if he was saying "come at me" and indeed, he was actually saying it with his wide insane sadistic smile.
Two beasts of blood and insanity showed nothing but absolute interest in one another as if the world was made only for the two of them. A beast of blood and a beast of tyranny and the other one only looked like the sweetest prey in each's eyes.
Jon's plan was executed to perfection.
Show knowledge about the place and lead the vampires by the nose, put every piece where it should and a single drop of blood will unleash the beast and make a river.
Now to the second verse of the song or rather… Now to the dance.
The girl was no longer in control, she saw the nearest human and charged at him looking for the best place to suck his blood dry, his neck.
Jon raised his wrist that was cuffed by the Magicka Shackles and the girl's open mow bit on that shackle breaking. Jon looked at the adorable face of the beast with a grin and blocked her claws by the shackles on the other hand.
The girl's superhuman strength broke both the shackles and waved her free hand on the busy-handed Jon. With his Magicka free once again, [Greed], as a cloak, enveloped Jon and took the hit of the girl's free hands.
To everyone's surprise, the supposed to be Void Cloak got shreded to six pieces horizontally without any resistance. The man inside the cloak was now nothing but six pieces cut by five sharp claws but that was not the case.
As soon as the cloak pieces fell down, there were no blood or flesh shreds to be witnessed. Only the cold sound of the shackles falling on the ground woke the surrounding from its daze.
Everyone including the girl looked left and right to where Jon may be only to hear foot steps from the other side across the room. The large figure was walking with easy in a mighty looking suit of armor.
It was the [Volkihar Knight Armor], a modded armor Jon installed in his past life and found it in the armory of Castle Volkihar. It suited him like nothing else.
The same design as the Volkihar vampires' dresses with extra material of metal on the arms and vital parts, the armor was a piece of art.
[A/n: one of my favorites, check it on nexus code 80634.]
The girl, in her frenziness, could recognize Jon as a tricky prey. Not caring about all the prey around her, the vampire girl's eyes were set on no one but Jon.
None noticed that the Void Cloak that was torn to six pieces, which was actually [Greed], had started crawling to Jon's location and he held his hand out. [Greed] rose up like a living shadow and joined its owner. Jon then morphed [Greed] into a fast a jet black katana in a jet black scabbard.
The tension was clear and the girl's superior blood was suppressing vampires and thralls alike so no one in their right mind had a speck of idea to stop her. She lowered her posture ready for a charge and Jon lowered his posture with the katana at his left side being held in the 'Iaido Style'.
[A/n: Iaido Style is a style that emphasizes being aware and capable of quickly drawing the sword and responding to a sudden attack.]
With his Aura unleashed, his left hand holding the scabbard and his right hovering above the handle, Jon drew the sword with the girl's charge and a collision was heard.
She was on the other side behind Jon and he has already drawn his sword in full. Both of them has avoided the other's attack but looking at the girl, she was clearly tricked.
Jon's scabbard was the real weapon all along. Once the girl passed him, the scabbard extended and stabbed the girl from behind her knee but to no avail, she was too strong to get even injured like that.
Jon didn't have much hope anyway, he just wanted the weakened vampire girl to exhaust her power completely, that was his goal.
The girl turned around like a beast with no focus in her eyes and waved her hands left and right at Jon. He responded with every slash calmly and kept using the scabbard as a defensive part and sometimes offensive.
The speed of their movements was insane and only Fura and Garan were able to keep up with their eyes. Maybe the girl was still weak and the human is shockingly stronger than they thought but the two vampires knew they shouldn't interfere in such a fast-paced battle or they may injure themselves or worse… injure the berserking girl. Those poor souls who were not able to get away from the scale of the fight were mercilessly cut by either Jon's blade or the girl's claws.
Jon kept taking distances and sheathed the sword each time he got away to perform an Iaido style attack. Outwardly he was acting cool but inwardly he was shocked by the girl's strength. He had some standards for a Noble Vampire in his mind but he found that the girl is far more powerful than just what she is capable of showing right now. Maybe lack of training or lack of food caused her to this bad at fighting. It still meant that he needs to weaken her more than he planned.
He also discovered one more thing. Harkon may be an Ancient Vampire but he is just another Vampire Lord, this girl was on a whole different level. She is an Original Vampire, a Daughter of Coldharbour.
With the rise of Jon's estimation, so did his tactic. His hand started casting spells on a fast pace around the girl who seemed to be going to charge any moment. As the girl moved, she seemed to be able to see through the traps Jon put around her and avoided with a very unrefined footwork technique. Jon saw through her movements and his thumb behind the katana's tsuka (guard) launched the sword like bolt towards the girl. The katana flew backward and its kashira (pommel) crashed in the girl's forehead causing her to halt for a second, a second enough for Jon to arrive and kick the girl towards the traps he laid.
Just as she landed on the runes, a hand made of lightning launched off and grabbed her leg, another trap was unleashed and another hand of lightning grabbed another limb. Each trap was actually a [Electrohand] spell and all caught the girl on a rapid pace. Jon cast his magic and empowered the traps to catch the girl in space from all four. She was kept hanged like that and started moving violently to break free yet to no avail, Jon was already in control.
Before he could do anything, a blade was already on his neck and five pairs of claws were holding him.
"That's enough!" Fura and Garan finally got the chance to stop the fight.
"Took you long enough. What's the deal with the lass?" Jon spoke.
"Well, it is your mess that she caught a whiff of blood. Now, look around… we ran out of thralls just by your little rampage." Fura said.
"I wasn't the one who made such a puzzle. Now deal with her and let's be on our way." Jon replied.
"You can't deal with her, she is not a normal vampire." Garan said.
"Eh?" Jon feigned ignorance.
Fura and Garan got away from Jon.
"You need to give her your blood, Mortal."
"What? My blood?" Jon acted angrily, "My deal with Lord Harkon was for none of you fuck faces to even put a scratch on me, now you want my blood?"
"A Blood Potion won't do with her state. We need fresh blood. If you kept one Thrall alive in the fight then we should have avoided that. Now deal with it, return her to her right mind before her powers return with more thirst and she kills us all." Fura said.
"Dammit."
Despite the unwillingness he showed, it was perfectly what he wanted. He was planning for this all along.
Weaken the girl both mentally and physically, eliminate any possible blood donors then give her the blood. It won't enthrall her but it will be enough… enough for the next plan.
Jon controlled the hands of lightning and pinned the girl down then walked to her. Her monstrous face was glaring at him in frenzy.
"Now, now… all that frowning is bad for your skin. I'll give you my blood but on my terms. No funny moves."
Jon held the girl's face up and with nothing but his will, a small wound opened on his palm. His blood flowed down in an unnatural form as if he was controlling it himself. It flowed through the girl's lips down to her mouth.
Slowly and carefully, Jon almost emptied a full liter of his own blood before the girl calms down and revert to her natural face.
Jon dispelled traps and held the girl down. She was collapsing slowly supported by his hands. Drenched in sweat, the berserk state must have drained her stamina a lot.
Jon could only smile as he looked at the beautiful face of that girl. A silly idea came to his head and thought that she is both the Beauty and the Beast.
Funny!
He also considered himself a beauty and a beast.
What a match!
He only caressed her forehead with an unintentional grin forming on his face.
"Welcome home, Serana."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Lore Research: Is Serana really 4233 years old? Here's why I don't think so... (This is based on the game events, not the novel... mostly the one who played the game! so ABANDON SHIP of SPOILERS!)
-First Reason:-
While she herself was taken aback by the existence of an Empire in Cyrodiil. I think this shouldn't mean she is from the time before the empires of Cyrodiil (the early 240 years of the First Era).
Also, according to the wiki, there Empires in Cyrodiil were established and dissolved on those dates.
- Alessian Empire (1E 242 - 1E 2331)
- Reman Empire (1E 2703 - 1E 2920)
- Akaviri Potentate (1E 2920 - 2E 430)
- Septim Empire (2E 854 - 4E 0)
- Mede Empire (4E 29 - to date)
We have a lot of gaps between the Empires. 372 years between the Alessian and Reman and 854 between Reman and Septim.
I am talking about the chance that the Volkihar folk are not from the pre-Alessian period because let's face it, those 242 years were very busy for Nords conquering Morrowind and High Rock with all the kings recorded and before it was the Merethic Era when the Atmoran were just arriving.
Serana and her family are Nords but the thing about them being that old (4233) is too far fetched.
---
-Second Reason:-
One of the most notable vampires in Volkihar clan is Vingalmo the High Elf. He is the first person the player and Serana meet after entering Castle Volkihar together and he recognizes Serana with the first glance. After talking with Vingalmo afterward he mentions that he used to be a Thalmor.
The Thalmor first appeared with the founding of the First Aldmeri Dominion by Queen Ayrenn year 2E 580, right between the Reman and the Septim Empires.
There was a Second Aldmeri Dominion between 2E 830 and 2E 895 but that was short-lived and got crushed by Tiber Septim and the Third Aldmeri Dominion is very recent and doesn't fit Harkon's being an Ancient King.
By that, Vingalmo should be either a remanent of the First or a survivor of the Second cutting Serana's age to either around 972 or 726.
---
-Conflict 1:-
Whether it is true or false, there is a strong conflict with the story of the Undead Dragon in the Soul Cairn, Durnehviir (Dur-Neh-Viir). He claimed to be a dragon from the time when dragons fought for power and territory and that's either the Early First Era or the late pre-historic Merethic Era when the Dragon Cult existed in Skyrim.
After he traveled to the Soul Crain and met with the Ideal Masters, Durnehviir was tasked with keeping Valerica imprisoned which was a trick as both were Immortals and Durnehviir was doomed to serve the Ideal Masters for eternity.
This conflicts with my reasons but I think there is more to Durnehviir's story than what we were told and guess what, Dragons Appeared in the Second Era. The Elder Scrolls Online newest DLC is called 'Elsweyr' and it is filled with Dragons so let's hope we are right about this one.
---
By my delicate observations, I find it more satisfying to have a 900 to 700 years old damsel (ignoring what Molag Bal did) over a 4000 one. (don't ask me why).
Of course, the Dawnguard DLC was badly written and all... (I mean 3 Elder Scrolls for a mere Sun Screen Prophecy dammit!)... but that can't stop us from doing thirsty research on our best waifu's real age.
Now someone come with Ser Meryn's face saying "TOO OLD!"
And Eid Mubarak.
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Chapitre 364: Preparation for Battle
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*8 Days before the Battle of Winterhold*
Alina sitting on Jon's central chair on the conference table looked at the figures present around her and felt a lot of pressure from their presences. If it was only the senior executives and the department heads then it is manageable but there were more.
On her right was her father Sigurd Moonblade and on her left was Tormund Firemane. The Moonblades were all behind her father and the Firemanes were behind their Patriarch. At the end of the table, there were the people from the company represented by Wulfur and finally Jarl Korir. There was also Nurina, Jullanar, Aela and the rest.
"I thank you all for coming today. This is an emergency meeting that I am sure all of you have already heard what is it about." Alina said and the people around her nodded.
She notified all those key figures this morning that she got a message from Jon and there is a big update on the situation.
"Regarding the matter concerning Jon, he somehow found a way to send us a message last night. It says a lot of things regarding his situation."
"Tell us already, girl." Tormund urged her to hasten.
"He is captured by a clan of vampires called the Volkihar Clan because of the Prophecy and they want him to assist them finding two Elder Scrolls."
"We already know that." Sigurd said.
"It is impossible for them to find anything. Jon said the time has not come for the scrolls to appear in the world." Nurina said.
"Those bastards! They want to keep him until the time comes! Those…" Skadi was infuriated.
"..." Alina was silent for a while then spoke up again, "Last night… they found one."
The room turned utterly silent. If a needle fell on the floor, its sound will be heard vividly because of how silent everything is. Even the Space itself froze around them and they all felt a chill through their bones.
"... Gods!" Jarl Korir became drenched in cold sweat. "Vampires and an Elder Scroll. What is this world falling to?"
Everyone else had the same question in their minds and the answer was 'Disaster'!
An Elder Scroll, everyone in the world knows what those are, no secret when it comes to the Elder Scrolls… or the right way to put it is there is no knowledge when it comes to the Elder Scrolls.
Each one of those mysterious things means something as they are artifacts of unknown origin and quantity, being simultaneously archives of historic, past and future events. They often tell of events that require a Hero to resolve them, although the Scrolls themselves do not select such individuals.
The Elder Scrolls exist out of space and time which means they are not bound by any laws. They can come and disappear depending on the situation and none can comprehend anything through them without proper methods. The thing about them was said that they "exceed both Aedra and Daedra" which means that neither group of the et'Ada created them.
The appearance of an individual related to an Elder Scroll may be normal as it will mean that a Hero will rise to vanquish evil in the future even though it was never predicted easily before.
Still, Jon was an anomaly among the anomalies. Not one, not two, but three. The size of such an event that may happen in the future and the power of that child will surely cause a massive change to the undercurrents throughout the continent and many forces do not want any of that.
Now as one Elder Scroll was found, it was a clear alarm that the Time of Chaos has arrived.
As the people around woke up from their daze, they looked at Alina seeking salvation in her words.
"Jon has returned with the vampires to their castle and intends to escape within the 8 days. He seems to be under the effect of a thing called a 'Domain' and can't leave freely. He made it very clear that no one comes to save him by any means at all. This was not a request but an order." Alina said those words and the room broke in an uproar.
"What does he mean not save him? What should we do then? Wait for the rest of the scrolls to be in the hands of the Vampires? Impossible!" Sigurd shouted.
"This is outrageous. He can't order us." Tormund was infuriated too.
"Our hands are tied, if we don't go after him then what are we supposed to do?" Jarl Korir said.
Alina waited for the men to calm down then spoke once again.
"Defend Winterhold."
That was her answer.
Everyone looked at her and tilted their heads.
"What do you possibly mean by that?" Wulfur asked.
"An enemy is coming to Winterhold in the span of 8 days. Something too strong for the hold to defend against."
Her words made sense and no sense at the same time. Of course an enemy was anticipated but none of those old clans of Skyrim would dare come openly and fight against a town let alone a Hold. This means that the whole kingdom of Skyrim if not the Empire will retaliate.
But here is the thing, the Empire is now acting low-key and trying to cut connections with Winterhold just like how they did with Jonrad and Hilda 18 years ago.
Both Jonrad and Hilda were present at the back silently listening with rage. They anticipated this but it seems to be more to it.
"According to our intel gathering partners in Solitude, Castle Duar has issued an order to not interfere with us and the Thalmor are holding meetings with the clans." Alina said.
"Outrageous! They can't come openly and wage war in Skyrim." Tormund slammed the table.
"They can… under one condition." Someone spoke.
Everyone looked towards the direction of Jarl Korir who seemed to have figured out something.
"... Many years ago… when the Blood Horkers were… you know. They attacked the town when it was weak and neither the Empire nor the Kingdom retaliated to them. Do you know why?"
All looked at him waiting for an answer.
"There was no banner, there was no time. The hour they came was the hour they left. What they did was overwhelming Winterhold so fast that none had the time to pick up arms. Afterward, none could pin the crime on them, no one had any evidence. If they want to attack us then they should do at that way or the world itself will be after them."
Jarl Korir was right.
An attack that sweeps over Winterhold City and Neo Sarthal Fort like nothing means to use an absolute brute force. The meaning of this was an imminent disaster approaching.
With Korir's explanation and Alina news about the Elder Scroll. This was pretty much a disaster.
"How… how did Jon find out?" Wulfur asked.
Alina smiled bitterly. She was about to drop another bomb to answer that question.
"The Daedric Prince Azura."
Those who felt their heads go numb from the two previous pieces of information were slapped so hard that they jumped out of their chairs.
"Azura?" Nurina was frozen the moment she heard the word.
"The Old Gods? Why are the Daedra involved in this?" Njord asked Alina.
Alina smiled bitterly and looked at the Light Screen at her hand that contained Jon's message.
"There is that thing called the 'Labour'. A series of trials set by the Daedra for Mortals to atone or serve a certain purpose." Alina said.
The room became silent.
"It is the sport of the Daedra." Nurina said. "Something they do to pass time with or achieve a certain goal."
Her voice was shaking as she said so. The word Daedra was the reason Jon had to hide many things from Nurina as she didn't cope with the word 'Daedra' well.
"I labored once." Jonrad said.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"What are you talking about?" Even Hilda who was all silent asked.
"After we separated, I made a deal with the Daedric Prince Boethiah to save my own hide. Came across my friend Glemet in High Rock and followed him around for a Labour regarding the Dark Brotherhood. Nothing I wish to remember."
The history with the Daedra in the family seemed to be deeper than what anyone could think of.
"What about Jon? Which Daedra is he Labouring for and how many Labours has he fulfilled?" Jonrad asked.
"Jon is Labouring for Azura, he fulfilled three Labours, the first was to save a Labourer and his friend Jon Battle-Born from Sheogorath, the second was to save Wulfur from the Forsworn and the third seemed to have involved Molag Bal was to massacre the Forsworn to remove a certain curse they put on him. It was clearly the reason why he had to do… you know… that torture."
Alina was referring to the Blood Eagle ritual that Jon performed.
The names of Azura, Sheogorath and Molag Bal were enough to call it a day for all the people around.
Nurina held her head and started growling.
"It is all coming over again, right? It is coming after me again." She seemed to be distressed.
"Fear not about Jon for he is capable of dealing with things none of you are." A soothing voice echoed in the room.
It was Jullanar who was seated on her chair and seemed to be recovering slowly. She continued.
"Vaermina and her realm didn't stop him from fishing us from Oblivion, Hircine could not turn him into a creature of the hunt and Hermaeus Mora couldn't swallow him through his books. If it is Azura then nothing to worry about shall come."
All looked at Jullanar with a dubious look.
Ever since she started recovering, her mind was not normally with her. She would sleep and dream a lot about roses and cities that never existed in this world. None could understand what is going with her but she was actually very healthy.
In that mystic state of hers, she would say words and foresee things outside the perception of normal people.
Being a little appeased, gazes turned back to Alina again.
"This was all regarding Jon. We will have to come up with countermeasures for a bitter defensive battle." She said.
"What are your thoughts?" Her father asked her knowing his daughters knack for battles.
"Winterhold is a tough Hold and our position is advantageous. From the North, none can face the Dare Fleet anymore. From the South, Ulfric won't let anyone pass let alone the Imperial Fort and the long way under the mountain is a suicide for an army to march on as we can rain them with rocks all along the mountain range. From the East, we have an exposed wasteland that they can never use for battle. This leaves the west as the only battlefield available in Winterhold and the place where Neo Saarthal was positioned to protect, this is where they will swarm from. We expect Voice Masters and Thalmor Mages rather than siege engines, the numbers of the enemy are a bit out of our estimations but we can guess that they will be more 10'000 if they want to take us in a full swoop. The company has its forces which are publicly estimated as 1000 trooper and both the Firemanes and the Moonblades are expected to be 2000 at most, the Hold Guards are around 2000 but we can only muster 1000. This makes the total 4000."
Alina's initial estimation was bleak.
Everyone knows that the Dare Dragon Company is hoarding soldiers and Alina hid the number which reaches 5000 Trooper. The true estimation should be 8000 against 10'000. The odds seemed fair but that was not completely true. A lot of hidden beasts were in the Clans and the Thalmor will sure send a force with the power to rival all the masters of the Firemanes, the Moonblades and the Dare Dragon Company.
It was a hot mess for sure.
"This means..." Tormund looked at Sigurd.
"No! We are not..." Sigurd jumped up.
"Father." Alina inturrpted Sigurd. "You have to."
What they were talking about was the Moonblades abandoning their Fort which was a mountain on the west of Winterhold. If they got besieged in their ansectral home then a disaster will strike the great clan.
"Alina! This is our anscestors' home. Your mother..." Sigurd said.
"Father, I am sure the Daed can't be honored if we do not keep living. Staying home is a sucide. You should retreat with all the clan to Saarthal. Our sacred grounds is Mount Anthor so this means we can defend where mother and the rest are burried, right?"
Sigurd seemed depressed but Alina was right. The dead can't be remembered if no living was left.
Alina sighed and stood.
"Jon has a plan." Alina spoke and turned her Light Screen.
There was a 3D image of a city that seemed like Neo Saarthal but it was fully built.
"This is Neo Saarthal. The Fort is complete and two layers of walls are fully built but that would still wouldn't be much. The true power of Neo Saarthal is this thing."
Alina pointed at a tower in the center of the city.
"A Tower, Jon wanted to build something like that?" Wulfur asked.
"According to the things Jon said, this might be our hope for victory. He called it the [Tower of Music]."
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