Chapitre 655: O' Brother
A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️
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"Listener."
Astrid looked up at the giant man who walked out of the Night Mother's Coffin with eyes filled with anger, sadness, and regret.
"You know what is the best thing about atonement, Matron Astrid?" The man went down on one knee, placed his hand behind Astrid's head, and helped her lay down, "It is that as long as your heart is true, you will be freed of your sins."
"Thank you…" Astrid replied, feeling the piercing pain running through her stomach as she closed her tearful eyes.
The man lowered his head towards Astrid and she whispered words to his ears while barely able to keep alive with her grave burn wounds and the dagger piercing her.
The man hummed to her words in a deep, strong, and hollow voice. After she rallied her request to him, the man spoke.
"Rejoice, Astrid. For the name you passed upon this Listener shall be delivered. Your sins are forgiven and your honor is redeemed." He held the Blade of Woe and took it off her stomach causing the terrible pain to run through her body.
He then aimed the blade to her heart and stabbed in a steady fast motion.
Between the Listener's arms, Matron Astrid of the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary of Falkreath, the last standing sanctuary, has forfeited her life.
*THUD*
"Sleep child! May the Darkness of the Void keep you in its cold embrace." The Listener prayed.
"Listener! Dear Listener! Poor Cicero is wounded." Cicero squirmed on the ground behind Serana and attracted the room's attention.
"Will any of you tend to the wounds of your brother?" The Listener called the five assassins standing in front of him.
"I shall, Listener." Gabriella bowed and ran towards Cicero, forking out a small potion of her long sleeve, and pouring it on Cicero's wounds.
The Listener stood up and carried Astrid within his arms.
"Listener!" Nazir called, "The Sanctuary…"
*THUD*
With this one thud, a chunk of the wall almost collapsed over everyone's head but out of nowhere, a fleshy substance jumped out of the Listener's arm and expanded up like a pillar holding up the wall. It even started spreading all across the chamber and outside to the Main Hall supporting all the cracks and collapses in the Sanctuary.
Gluttony had such an ability called Blood Grove. It would actually turn into a Briarheart Tree and start attacking any hostile within close proximity.
"Looks like our Legionary Friends are eagerly demanding our attention. This hideout location is no longer safe." The Listener said.
"Listener. What should we do?" Babette said.
"I will protect you." The Listener said, "I will unseal the Black Door and we will leave."
The Listener handed Astrid's body to Nazir and moved towards the Night Mother's Coffin. He respectfully closed the Coffin, held his cloak by the shoulder, then threw it off his body to cover the entire Coffin.
Suddenly, the entire Coffin seemed to have been swallowed somewhere and disappeared.
What appeared from beneath the Cloak with a man with eyes that are totally black like the Void and his bare upper half was covered in all sorts of Nordic Tattoos.
He was wearing a great armored belt and wide pants with vambraces around his arms and armored boots.
He was akin to a dark warmongering warrior.
In his left hand, he carried the Blade of Woe but on his right, a Blade of Light formed.
The Blade of Light was akin to the most holy item in the world, it made both Babette and Serana feel uncomfortable in its presence.
This was Dawnbreaker.
But in the next instant, the Listener's cloak, that just took the Night Mother's Coffin away, jumped off the ground and wrapped itself around the blade as if consuming one another.
What was left was a product of utter and supreme Darkness. It made not only the undead in the room, but even the living feel uncomfortable.
All except Nefertiti who was strangely drawn to it.
This was Duskbringer, the corrupted form of Dawnbreaker.
[A/N: Lore Confirmed! It was once Dawnbreaker that got corrupted by the Daedra Nocturnal.]
The Listener was clearly not afraid of corrupting the holy item of Meridia knowing that he will suffer no consequences just like when he suffered on the hand of Azura when he corrupted Asura's Star. The reason for that is Greed's transformations are temporary and his stealth is perfect. All the Daedra would know is that their artifact was probably stored in a different dimension or something.
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[ Dawnbreaker > Duskbringer ] <Ebony Sword>
- Fire Damage for Living > Shadow Damage
- Sun Damage for Undead > Absorb Life
- Undead Burst on Death > Corpse Explosion on Death
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ Blade of Woe ] <Daedric Ebony Dagger>
- Absorb Life
- Fear
- Impossible to Soul Trap
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The two weapons complimented one another greatly as weapons of mayhem and slaughter.
"With me!" Jon called and walked out of the room to the Main Hall. Over there, he saw the bodies of both Veezara and Arnbjorn.
"Collect the bodies of your brothers." He said.
The group, save for the wounded Cicero and Nazir who carried Astrid, started lifting up the two dead Assassins and waited for Jon to teleport them out of here.
But Jon didn't. He walked straight to the Black Door.
"Listener, this is…"
"There is no way out except through here." Jon said, "A Brotherhood Sanctuary is an isolated space. There is no way in or out unless the Night Mother allows. There is no magic that can pierce a space that is essentially a piece of the Void."
It seemed that the Assassins never knew the true nature of a Brotherhood Sanctuary but Jon was very willing to show them. He confidently walked ahead and arrived at the Black Door.
*THUD*
The Battering Ram outside the Black Door was furiously trying to tear down the Black Door. However, these doors were nigh-indestructible. The Sanctuary, however, was very fragile.
Jon put the tips of his fingers against the Black Door and closed his eyes waiting patiently. Half a minute passed and he immediately performed history's most powerful One-Inch Punch.
*TTHHUUDD*
The sound of his attack resonated with a Battering Ram strike coming from outside and strange enough, the Sanctuary didn't shake one bit.
And it was then…
{What is the Music of Life?}
The familiar ghostly voice coming from the Black Door sounded.
"Silence, my Brother."
{You are Worthy!}
Jon sneered and looked back to the shocked assassins behind him.
"Just a minute."
And he stepped outside alone.
***
No matter how skilled a fighter can be, no one imagined that he would face all of that on his own.
But the fighter that went out, returned back to the Sanctuary 10 minutes later, all soaked in blood and guts. The appearance of the maddened war deity that is this Listener made the assassins understand that they were under the protection of a great warrior, a powerhouse even.
Yet despite seeing his face, the man's identity remains a mystery.
"Take the bodies and start moving." The Listener said, "Take the way off the main road until you reach Lake Ilinalta. Serana, you lead the way, I'll guard the rear."
"Understood." Serana walked out first and saw the massacre Jon committed.
Around a hundred have died on his hands alone. The most notable among the group was the Head of the Emperor's Security in Skyrim, Commander Maro. The man whom Astrid leaked the assassination attempt to in order to get rid of the Listener.
Maro seemed to have double-crossed Astrid and laid a trap for her until he found out the location of the Sanctuary and the Password to it.
If Jon didn't disturb the Black Door and keep it from opening, the entire Dark Brotherhood would have been annihilated.
The rest of the assassins followed Serana out and they all had to take a minute to realize the amount of damage one man can cause against a hundred.
There were people missing parts of their bodies, people with twisted bone structures which left them in shapes only possible in one's imagination, people who were hit so badly they turned to actual mess of blood and gore, and the real lucky ones were thrown against rocks or impaled on tree branches.
As soon as the assassin left, Jon was all alone with Nefertiti by his side. He ended channeling the Chaos Infection through his Mystic Tattoos and summoned both Gluttony and Greed back to him.
"You, clean up the bodies." Jon ordered Gluttony then looked at Greed, "You… you have gotten more powerful but don't act high and mighty again. Go after the Assassins and help them out."
Greed reformed itself into its form of Greed Embodiment and turned to Sleipnir which started galloping towards the escaping assassins.
"Wonderful work, young Listener." The Spectral Assassin walked out through the sanctuary door to Jon, "Your purification was quite swift and you killed only the unloyal."
"Veezara and Arnbjorn wouldn't have survived without Astrid." Jon said, "One of my people has a grudge with Veezara so I took care of him and Arnbjorn was Astrid's husband so he wouldn't accept losing her. As for Festus and Gabriella, I hope Fate does them good."
In the game, those five characters die during the attack at the Dark Brotherhood Falkreath Sanctuary. Jon saw them both as good assets and so he decided to help them out.
But if Fate has other plans for them, Jon wasn't sure what to do anyway. He did all he could.
Right now, he secured the Listener's position in the Dark Brotherhood making this the only Game Faction questline that he interacts with so deeply. He is a member of both the Thieves Guild and the College of Winterhold and an honorary member of the Companions but he left those factions for Jullanar, Alina, and Wulfur respectfully.
He wanted to leave the Dark Brotherhood for someone else but due to the sensitive nature of the job, he needed to manipulate things on his own.
In the game, a player can choose whether to Join or Destroy the Dark Brotherhood. Jon chose the two choices since he was the one who used Serana as a Proxy Listener and sold information about the Brotherhood to the Penitus Oculatus and killed three assassins through Nefertiti.
"So, what now?" The Spectral Assassin asked, "You have chosen to lead the Brotherhood, and the Contract to kill the Emperor stands."
"I am planning to do it." Jon replied, "I just want to test out that thing you told me."
"Huhu! You really think you can do it?" The Spectral Assassin said.
"You're looking down on me, Lachance. Bad move." Jon replied and proceeded to the target of his latest discovery.
The Black Door!
Maybe, the greatest secret the Dark Brotherhood ever possessed.
It doesn't take an architectural genius to realize that every Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary was built in a location that makes it impossible to construct anything if not with the interference of a great force.
A lazy writer would pin it on Sithis but Jon has asked the Spectral Assassin, Lucien Lachance, a question and the answer he received intrigued him fully.
That's why Jon stood in front of that Black Door.
"What is the Music of Life?" The Black Door asked its usual question now that Jon's seal on it was lifted.
"Silence, O' Brother, for we are worthy of peace and quiet." Jon answered.
The answer was different and the Black Door had neither opened for him nor shut him out.
"Ask again." Jon said.
"What is life's Greatest Illusion?" The Black Door asked.
"Innocence, O' Brother, for we are worthy of self-entitlement to righteousness." Jon answered, "Ask again."
"What is the color of night?" The Door asked.
"Sanguine, O' Brother, for we are worthy of the beauty hailed from mother Kyne and father Shor." Jon answered, "Ask again."
"What is the Flavor of Fear?" The Door asked.
"Sublime, O' Brother, for we are worthy of Death and through its fear do we glorify the moment we elevate and see the tower." Jon answered, "Ask again."
"What is the Gift of Death?" The Door asked.
"Solace, O' Brother, for we are worthy of life but only those who are awake in the Dream know that we have been here once before." Jon answered.
At the fifth question, Jon didn't ask for more questions. The Black Door was fully active and its energy was stronger than ever.
Looking into it, Jon saw the Void and the Void saw Jon. They were not strangers to each other since Jon has walked it once as the Advocate of Sithis.
It was now Jon's turn to ask questions.
"What is Life of Music?" Jon asked, twisting the original question.
"Change, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Change whirls life and we muse in agony."
"What is the Fear of Flavor?" Jon asked, twisting the original question.
"Stasis, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Change came when we were all tasteless."
"What is the Night of Color?" Jon asked, twisting the original question.
"Chaos, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Chaos ends all as Night ends all days."
"What is the Death of Gifts?" Jon asked, twisting the original question.
"Order, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Chaos is where all gifts stem and Order is their end."
Jon nodded satisfied with the four answers before asking the fifth question.
"And what is the name of your Dread Father?" Jon asked.
"Sithis, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Sithis still travels in a phosphorescent mirror of the sky drowned and smiling intermittent hopes enough to answer all the things not yet queried."
"You lie!" Jon tilted his head with a threatening look on his face, "Say his true name!"
"SITHISIT, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are the Unworthy…"
"Yes." Jon nodded, "SI-THIS-IT. But you're still wrong for you misheard his true name statement. I'll tell you his first secret syllable, it is that of (IS) and your misfollowed father's true name becomes IS-THIS-IT." Jon stated and shouted, "FACE THR TERROR OF YOUR FOLLY!"
"WE ARE UNWORTHY…" To Jon's anger, the Black Door cried.
Jon spread his hands for Black Door and cracks started to form around its stone doorframe.
The cracks spread and the Black Door fell from its hinges on Jon's hands.
Behind the fallen Black Door, the entrance of the sanctuary was not there as if it didn't exist in the first place, for it was simply a rock wall. This meant that whatever Sanctuary the Brotherhood used, the Black Door is not simply its door but rather, it is the Sanctuary itself.
Jon carried the door with a satisfied face. Only he can argue a door to submission.
"And now… what do you call me?" Jon asked.
The Black Door went quiet for a while as if it was deep in thoughts.
The Black Door then answered, "… Mother!"
The Spectral Assassin fell into mad laughter as Jon's lips formed into blowing out the letter "F" with extreme vigor.
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A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️
Chapitre 656: A New Sanctuary
A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️
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And so the Dark Brotherhood survived with more members than it was supposed to have. In the game, the worst-case scenario would only be Nazir and Babette surviving the massacre with Cicero being the third survivor in a best-case scenario.
Yet not only was it Babette, Nazir, and Cicero, but there were Festus Krex and Gabriella as well as Serana.
Jon even took the Black Door from Falkreath and stored it away before joining the rest of the members at the borders of Whiterun and Falkreath.
There, they dug a grave for both Astrid and Arnbjorn and laid their bodies with Nirn. As for Veezara, Jon looked for Nazir and instructed him…
"Take him to the Sleeping Tree Giants camp. There, you will find a unique tree known as the Sleeping Tree. It is a premature Hist Tree that somehow grew around there. It would be best to lay his body there. Once you're done, come to the Nightgate Village on the road where Winterhold, Eastmarch, and the Pale meet."
"Yes, Listener." Nazir obeyed Jon and took a horse carrying Veezara on its back.
As for the rest, Jon teleported them to the Nightgate Village and found a location not too far from Wayward Pass that leads to Saarthal.
There, he found a fitting place and took out the Black Door before installing it in a location hidden from view.
It didn't need much for the Black Door to install itself and fix a door frame around its location.
"How marvelous, Listener." Festus Krex applauded Jon, "I have never known such a thing would ever be possible."
"It is my first time seeing that as well." Babette followed up.
Installing a Black Door.
Realistically, it wasn't possible but Jon discovered that each Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary is a pocket dimension that was imported from the Void of Sithis.
The Void contains many realities, many possibilities, many forms of the future. It also contains fragments and clones of things that exist.
During his adventure to Hammerfell, Jon visited a place known as the Abyss which is a series of looping and repeating realities woven together by the Void. There, one can walk in a Nordic Crypt for example before finding himself in a Dwarven Ruin, a Goblin Cave, a Daedra Den, or an Undead Tomb in the next turn.
As for the Black Doors and the Sanctuaries, they would function the same. (A/n: my own Theory.)
Each Sanctuary comes from the Void by linking a Black Door to a suitable door frame. Most of the Black Doors were already placed in places that are impossible to construct anything behind.
For example, the Falkreath Sanctuary was built under a road with an interior that seemed very large on the inside compared to the space on the outside.
Another example is the Sanctuary of Dawnstar which is basically a building that was carved inside a mountain.
This doesn't mean that a sanctuary is completely isolated behind a Black Door. There were recorded cases of breaking into a Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary without going through a Black Door. Such cases were like the case of the Troll in Dawnstar's Sanctuary and accessing the Sanctuary through a well as it was in Cheydinhal.
All in all, a Black Door imports a space from the Void behind itself and integrates it into reality in order to create a hideout for the Assassins of the Brotherhood. That's why a Black Door was technically impenetrable without a password since you would be banging and ramming against a piece of stone leaning on a mountain.
But the Black Door can receive damage and the inside space may collapse from that as well.
The thing that gave off the most obvious clue was the existence of a water current that formed a small waterfall inside the Sanctuary of Falkreath while in fact there was no active waterway around that area.
But now it was time to witness what this newly established sanctuary will offer.
Jon approached the Black Door and touched it. The eyes glowed with red aura and spoke.
"What is Life's Greatest Sin?" The Black Door asked.
For such a question to pop up. A question about sins for the man who holds his sins in his hands.
Jon smiled and his smile kept growing wider.
"Audacity, my Brother." Jon replied
"Welcome… home!" The Black Door replied and became unlocked.
Jon pushed it slowly and noticed a stairway leading down and a well-built brick corridor.
"Let's go." Jon said.
As he walked in and the remaining Assassins followed, they all arrived at a hall with many pillars and a basin that had a fountain. The whole thing was built with mountain stone and resembles the old Falkreath Sanctuary in terms of layout.
It seemed that the Black Door had a layout that was somewhat constant but the theme would change depending on the location it is planted in.
Right now, it has taken a style somewhat similar to that of Windhelm and Winterhold.
"Alright. I'll give you a day to prepare and get this place running." Jon said, "Cicero, I'll leave some funds in your hand so go and make this place feel like home."
"Oh, Listener! You're giving Cicero money?" The Jester snatched the purse that Jon passed to him.
"Hmph! It's only for food and furniture. If I find out that you wasted my money, you will suffer the Thousand Claws of Annihilation." Jon said and Nefertiti extended her claws in front of Cicero.
"Of course!" Cicero waved his hands, "I was just thinking of buying something nice for our dear Mother."
"Get on with it." Jon said, "When Nazir gets back, he will handle the money and I will share the upcoming plan with you all. Rest for now."
And like that, Jon established the new Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary outside the Nightgate Village just outside his doorstep in Winterhold. With that, he can start focusing on the plan to go on with the Emperor's Assassination plan.
***
By the next day, all the Assassins were gathered in the Sanctuary and they grouped around Jon who sat at a large chair in front of a stone table.
"As it is the first time you work for me, I would love to clarify a few things." Jon said, "I don't care what you do so long you don't break the Five Tenets."
This was the first introduction Jon gave for the Assassins. Cicero, Nazir, Babette, Festus, and Gabriella. They never worked with him before so they had to understand him through this brief conversation.
The Five Tenets were simple just as follows:-
• Tenet I. Never dishonor the Night Mother. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.
• Tenet II. Never betray the Dark Brotherhood or its secrets. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.
• Tenet III. Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Dark Brotherhood superior. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.
• Tenet IV. Never steal the possessions of a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.
• Tenet V. Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do so is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis.
All in all, it was all about honoring the Night Mother, keeping the Brotherhood's secrets, obeying superiors, not robbing, or not killing other Assassins.
Thinking of Astrid and her reasons to abolish those five vital rules, the Assassins present understood that they surely waned and became unworthy.
Jon then continued the introduction.
"My identity will be kept from all of you because I want to keep it that way." He said, "My Speaker is and always has been Serana, a member of the Black Hand. So far, Serana will be the Speaker, Cicero will be the Keeper, and I am the Listener. The rest of you shall do the administrative affairs."
"Nazir the Redguard." Jon then called.
"Yes, Listener." Nazir replied.
"You will be in charge of finance. I want you to keep bringing outside hits and contracts outside the normal Black Sacrament jobs. Also, you need to make sure that you don't pick high profile targets and run the names with me once every month." Jon said.
"Yes, sir."
"Babette the Vampire." Jon called.
"Yes…" She replied.
"I have heard you have a talent for working with unusual creatures. Spiders, Trolls, and such." Jon said, "You will find an abundance of those things in the nearby caves. I want you to go and make some friends with the locals in this neighborhood."
"Yes, Listener."
"Festus the Mage and Gabriella the Alchemist." Jon called.
"Yes." "Yes, Listener." The two replied.
"You two are obviously my seniors and out of respect, I won't give you more than what you usually did in the past but I will call upon your expertise from time to time."
"Thank you greatly, Listener." Gabriella nodded.
"Yes, thank you, my Listener. At my age, it is hard to be overworked this way." Festus said and glanced over to Babette.
"Hey!" Babette slammed her hand on the table, "You want to laze around, don't you." She then turned to Jon, "Listener, he is just lazy. I am his senior and he just wants to lay down and watch me work."
"Haha! Listen to this little girl." Festus chuckled while looking down on Babette.
"You two." Nazir called in a stern time, "Show some respect. The Listener is not finished yet."
They all immediately noticed the look on Jon's face which was void of tolerance towards their actions. If he wants to, they would face some consequences they are not prepared for.
Currently, Jon was using the Chaos Infection to mask his identity by looking like a man with full black eyes and mystical black tattoos. His appearance was nightmare-inducing even for those old Assassins.
After all, they're under new management.
"Cicero, you will keep the Sanctuary in top condition." Jon said, continuing distributing the jobs.
"Oh! Thank you! Thank you greatly, Listener. Cicero, your loyal follower, will make sure not a speck of dust lingers in the sanctuary." Cicero replied with over-excitement.
"As for you, Serana, you and I will head out to finish this Emperor contract… together."
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A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
200+ Classement
Power Stone 
33 Power
stone 
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