Capítulo 673: WWW?!
A/n: What is this? Another Double Chapter? Don you sonovagun!
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(Part 1)
WWW is a golden rule which must be used after every major incident. Through the WWW protocol, one learns from experience and grows as a person.
This time, it was Glymet who was contemplating the WWW protocol as if almost about to hit his head against every wall and pillar inside Forelhost tomb.
Why?
Because in the last fight between everyone that entered this cave, he is the last man standing.
That statement includes the Dragon Priest and his minions, Mecinar and his Goons, and Jon freaking Dare and his summons.
One may ask… if Glymet is the last man standing, why would he contemplate the WWW protocol? Isn't this his victory by default?
That is a big no here.
To tell this part of the story right, we have to rewind a wee bit to the back, right at the part where Glymet brandished the legendary katana, Goldbrand, all before Arch Wizard Mecinar, Arch Wizard Jon Dare, and Arch Wizard Dragon Priest decide to have fun blasting off stuff together.
And from there, we invoke the WWW protocol correctly.
So… What Went Wrong?
***
A lot…
A lot of undead!
Glymet was sure he blasted the entire score of Draugr that was chasing Swims to Oblivion but he didn't expect them to be this robust against flame magic attacks.
*Swoosh* *Boom*
Just by moving his head a few inches to the left, Glymet avoided a Fireball aimed at his face and immediately retaliated with a Shockwave spell that pushed away all the enemies that surrounded him.
His last attack using Goldbrand was effective to make the undead lose their momentum but the Dragon Priest was an excellent magic caster as it seemed and contended well against the fire attack. As for the remaining undead, they were chasing Swims-at-Night and trying to surround him but the crafty Argonian Smuggler wielded an axe and a torch which he used to make a combination of chopping and burning attacks to get himself out of trouble.
With the poison that Swims brewed still affecting Glymet's Magicka, the situation wasn't getting any better and all Glymet could do was rely on his agility to maneuver through the enemies and use the enchantment of Goldbrand to burn everything to a crisp.
He moved rapidly and managed to land a few attacks indeed but the Dragon Priest was teleporting all over the place in a way that outdone Glymet's maneuvers a few times in a spiral of offense and defense that felt like going forever.
And just as Glymet was able to shake off the Dragon Priest and put him in a bad situation but…
*RUMBLE*
… the whole chamber started to shake and fractures emerged on a certain wall before it got blown away.
"The Ring! I can sense it!"
As those who were inside the chamber became stunned by the sudden intrusion that caused a cloud of dust to cloak out half of the chamber, a man's voice was heard as the third party showed itself.
Three Mercenaries led by a blonde female, one cloaked man walking behind them, and a strange creature with the resemblance of a woman.
"It is around the Undead's neck." The Blonde woman said as she pointed towards the Dragon Priest.
"Get it for me!" The cloaked man behind gave an order.
It looked like competition had finally arrived despite entering the crypt before Glymet and Swims-at-Night. This put a lot of pressure on Glymet as he felt a threatening aura coming from the cloaked man.
"Where do you think you're going?"
But as if nothing can even threaten him, Swims-at-Night bounced out of nowhere and attacked the mercenaries who were trying to surround the Dragon Priest.
He was clearly faster than them but one of those Mercenaries was clad in a hunk of metal and as if reading Swims' movement from the beginning, he intercepted the Argonian with ease.
"Good job, Cassius. We clean the trash first." The Blonde who was on the lead threw something towards the Dragon Priest and the other undead which started to glow in a flickering light before exploding in a cloud of blue to dark smoke with white sparkles, ones that didn't feel anyhow as pleasant as normal sparkles.
Corrupted Magicka bomb!
A taboo item in the hand of mere mercenaries?
Glymet was distracted for a moment by the bomb but it seemed effective in containing the Dragon Priest by crippling his Magicka for a moment.
This would open the window for anyone to attack the Dragon Priest especially since the treasure hunters, that just barged in, are in better shape than Glymet and Swims.
At this moment, Glymet decided to leave the Dragon Priest and rushed from the shadows to aid his friend and partner, Swims.
With one swift slash, Goldbrand shone in bright fire and descended upon the mercenaries that were attacking Swims. They felt the intense heat come at them and their leader, the blonde woman, tried to shield her face with her arms but just before it struck them, one man stood between them and Glymet's attack, totally blocking it with his metallic arm.
"That's some nasty fire you got there, sir." Said the cloaked man who was Arch Wizard Mecinar, "Daedric, I assume?"
Swims-at-Night used the window given to him by Glymet and immediately retreated to safety behind his comrade. Glymet and Swims then took their distance from Mecinar and his Mercenaries.
"Hey, take this!" Swims passed a Magicka potion to Glymet who received it while looking at its content with one eye and his enemies with another while keeping his sword up.
"Fucker!"
It was then when one of the mercenaries shouted with anger at Swims. From what it seemed, he seemed to have pickpocketed her off her potion which she needed as a magic caster.
"Calm down, Kamala."
"But, Aldora…"
Kamala, the Female Orc shamaness, had to stop arguing when Aldora, the Female Nord Blondie, gestured with her green eyes at Mecinar.
The strange atmosphere seemed to be going nowhere with this confrontation and soon the Dragon Priest will recover from his stun and wreak havoc. None of the current parties had any plan for the current situation but it was Swims who noticed it first.
"Wait! There was something with them, a creature!" He said.
And the moment he said that, something clicked inside Glymet's head and he immediately expanded his perception range. Like a creeping shadow, he felt a thin presence turning sharp and in less than a second, this sharp pressure turned into a cutting edge aiming for his back.
The realization came before the attack would arrive and Glymet was defenseless, waiting for certain death.
The moment he realized that, he tried to mount a defense but death was imminent and would soon claim him. Fate has long since cast its web around Glymet's neck and he felt it. But with a snapping sensation, this encounter with fate was torn by another fate, stronger, more domineering, tyrannical in nature, and suffocating in presence.
The wall crumbled once again and a being landed like a speeding wagon to immediately bulldoze whatever was aiming for Glymet with a strong thud, even the amassed undead around the Dragon Priest were blown away including the Priest that barely retreated.
The being was huge, made of bones as if it was clad in them, and had the edgiest style a man can ever imagine.
It was a Bone Colossus, no mistake about it. Still, its appearance was refined in the shape of an angry Akaviri warrior.
Beneath it was the creature that was going after Glymet. Long-limbed and pale, its face was that of a woman but its mind was clearly feral.
"Grrrrrr!" The creature made growls of a beast in the face of the Bone Colossus fearless… almost brainless.
"Maven, Maven, Maven! Hehehe!" The Colossus laughed menacingly, "Killing your empty husk won't be satisfying enough but here we go… YOL TOOR SHUL!"
The burial chamber shook with the power of the Thu'um coming from the Bone Colossus, or rather from within it, and the target of that flaming Thu'um was none other than the strange woman creature that was held beneath it.
Just like how Glymet used Goldbrand, but way stronger, a breath of fire emerged from the words of that Bone Colossus being and struck its target splendidly.
*SCREEEEeeeee…eee…*
The fire hit the ground and spread, widened, overtaken the entire space ground of the chamber, and shook its walls.
Those who evaded it had to be smart. Mecinar cast a ward around himself, the Dragon Priest lifted himself in the air, the mercenaries found pillars and broken stones to hang on, while Glymet used Goldbrand to cut the flames away from him and Swims.
The only victims here were the last remaining batch of undead, whose survival instincts weren't that functional, and the creature made from the fragments of the once Maven Black-Briar.
As his victims crumbled to ash in his hand, the Bone Colossus stood straight and watched the fire fade away before lingering around exclusively to flammable surfaces and illuminating the once dimly lit chamber.
There, he felt the magic of Forelhost weaken and decided he no longer had to keep that appearance.
The Bone Colossus was obviously Wrath and as an undead being, it can freely enter Forelhost. Jon used this fact and entered inside Wrath by altering some of its interior to fit him like oversized armor.
So, now that he confirmed that the Magic of Forelhost won't be able to send him out, he tore open a part of Wrath and jumped out while examining his surroundings with a menacing look in his eyes.
***
(Part 2)
Walking out from the power-armor-like Wrath, Jon looked around the destruction he just caused.
"Mecinar! You there?" Jon called.
"I am." A reply came as a man emerged from the place Jon was looking at.
Hiding seemed impossible when Jon Dare would come ready and looking.
"Here you are!" Jon smiled, "Sorry about your girlfriend."
"What a waste!" Mecinar replied, "I was almost at a breakthrough with that soul experience you insinuated me with."
The air between the two was tense so the people around them felt that the Magicka was intensely moving between the two in an agitated manner.
They felt like two polar opposites who would attract and handle Magicka differently yet similarly. The duality of the Magicka spiral caused by the two was risky enough to erase this tomb from existence.
But right when nobody expected it, the duality became trinity with the sound of shattering glass. There, Glymet stood at an opposite spot from the two Arch Wizards and his Magicka fluctuated and interacted with theirs to create a third spiral around him.
Glymet recovered using the Magicka potion that Swims just snatched and the true face of a third Arch Wizard was revealed.
"Well, I'll be damned!" Jon laughed, not from surprise, but from the irony of this situation.
Two beings equal to himself in terms of the Magic ability stood against him and he bared their fangs.
"I didn't expect that." Even Mecinar was shaken a little, but only just a little, as understood that the third Arch Wizard is a Spellsword, which is more predictable than the Dragonborn Mystic Jon Dare.
"Nice of you to show up, Jonrad." And then Glymet spoke.
"What?" Mecinar felt immediately threatened as the idea of those two being friendly to one another meant that his fate was immediately sealed.
"The Fuck?" But Jon's reaction was a sudden shrink, "I fucking do a skincare routine and use shampoo! Take that back, you old fart!"
Jon's reaction caused Glymet to be stunned and Mecinar to frown.
"Ah! So it's Jon the Younger. Jonhild." Glymet then immediately realized who is who.
"For God's sake get your eyes checked, old man." Jon replied, "Whoever you are, hope you're not here for the Artifact."
"Too late, kid." Glymet replied.
"Hold your horses, the two of you." Mecinar then interfered, "Only one of us can get that thing and use it."
His words were subtle but he aimed to drive a wedge between Jon and Glymet so they don't end up ganging up on him.
The three-way standoff became tenser than ever before and just like that, the mercenaries covered Mecinar's back, Swims-at-Night covered Glymet's back, and Wrath covered Jon's back.
Plans started getting made, and simulations in everyone's brains were run once, twice, thrice. The Dragon Priest was recovering on a fourth front and his Magicka was moving as vigorously as the three Arch Wizards to create a fourth spiral.
Four Arch Wizards!
Just when the Dragon Priest fully recovers, it will attack indiscriminately thanks to its Lich nature and hatred towards the living as an undead.
There was little time and everyone had a rough idea about the other one.
Arch Wizard Mecinar, an Artificer with a lot of surprises and endless thoughts on Magicka output.
Arch Wizard Glymet, a Spellsword with a flaming sword artifact that seemed remarkably dangerous to contend against in close range even for Jon.
Arch Wizard Jon Dare, a Mystic Warrior and a Voice Master meaning that he can put enough fight to hold two fronts and his trump cards seemed scarier than whatever Mecinar or Glymet can come up with.
And the Dragon Priest was a wild card.
In their eyes, both Glymet and Mecinar saw Jon Dare as the most demanding threat and had to isolate him first before snatching the Ring as fast as they could.
But there were more variables still…
Mecinar had his mercenaries, who would throw themselves between three Arch Wizards for the booty they're after.
Glymet had Swims-at-Night, who is a fearless warrior and can act roguishly in critical times like these.
Jon Dare had a Bone Colossus and his worldwide reputation always had it that he can summon weird monstrosities.
The Dragon Priest had no support, on the other hand.
Whatever happens now, it will…
"GO!" Swims-at-Night shouted and it was he and Glymet who acted first.
Glymet slashed Goldbrand diagonally starting with Jon and ending with Mecinar to create a wave of searing flames that would devour the two except that it lost its power too quickly.
From within these flames, Swims-at-Night jumped at the Dragon Priest and chopped off the hand holding the staff to…
*PUNCH*
Jon was immediately onto Swims as he punched the Argonian's face with the back of his fist and reached out immediately for the chain holding the ring to the Dragon Priest's neck.
*PULSE*
But just as Jon was about to reach the Ring, a blue wave of energy struck his face as it seemed Mecinar's hand had turned into a cannon and shot Jon in the face.
Yet in an impressive reaction speed, Pride appeared from its invisible state and took the hit for Jon but instead of suffering any damage, it completely reflected the attack towards Glymet.
Glymet's reaction was timely and as he saw Swims get punched away, he returned Goldbrand to its sheath and used it as a shield. Just like how Pride did, the energy attack was reflected again but this time it was up to the ceiling to create a hole from which one can see the sky.
Nobody cared about the hole in the ceiling just yet and as Jon was the closest to the Dragon Priest and almost about to snatch the ring, the Magic Caster among the Mercenaries, Kamala, used her magic to teleport the Dragon Priest away from Jon's clutch.
Jon may have almost caught the Dragon Priest's head but as it slipped from his fingers, he could only rip off the Dragon Priest's mask.
"GODDAMMIT!"
It was too risky to take the Dragon Priest in their direction especially when Mecinar was busy fending off an attack mounted against him by the Bone Colossus so Kamala decided to put the Dragon Priest up in the air between the three parties.
Meanwhile, the Nord Blondie Aldora oversaw the situation from behind Mecinar and shouted.
"Mecinar, the String!"
Her voice caused Mecinar to escape from Wrath's attack range and from an implant on his mechanical arm, Mecinar shot white threads made of ancestor silk and coated in pure Magicka.
The strings reached out to the three Mercenaries and Aldora was the last to receive it. Aldora then shouted once again.
"SKYWAG!"
A screech of a bird followed her shout and at an incredible speed of flashing lightning, a Peregrine Falcon stooped through the opening in the ceiling and reached the Dragon Priest in less than a second.
Before even the Dragon Priest would react to his teleportation, the peregrine falcon Skywag tore the chain holding the ring and could almost fly away with it.
"Throw me!" Swims-at-Night shouted and in an instant reaction, Glymet blasted his friend with a non-lethal Force spell towards the Falcon and the Ring.
"KITTY CAT!" Even Jon extended his left arm and a shadow of a feline swooshed at an incredible speed towards the Falcon and the Ring.
In the same instant, another white string came from Mecinar's arm and tied itself to the Falcon holding the ring.
Swims-at-Night was fast enough for his Argonian claws to almost touch the ring.
Nefertiti was also aiming for the red ring and seemed pretty sure she could get it as she was already touching it.
Skywag the Falcon was following the order of its master, Aldora, and ready to bolt away.
But it all happened in an instant.
The Dragon Priest was there at the middle of it all and having his Dragon Priest Mask taken from him, as well as being played by the mortals around him, made him summon one final effort of retaliation and called his Magicka to strike whosoever nearest to him.
A Bolt of Lightning came from the Dragon Priest and it struck Swims-at-Night, Nefertiti, and Skywag.
The Ring known as the Barilzar's Mazed Band was a magic item that was enchanted just like anything else and the Magicka that struck it was just enough to make it function.
First, it was Swims-at-Night, Nefertiti, and Skywag who were swept in by a sudden red flash and disappeared.
Following them was the group tethered magically to Skywag, Mecinar and his Mercenaries, just as Aldora had planned.
But with Nefertiti getting teleported away, Jon felt a sudden change within him and the look on his face changed.
Glymet could see the shock on Jon's face and his lips trying to pronounce a word starting with F but in the same red flash, Jon Dare disappeared from the tombs chamber along with his summons.
The corpse of the Dragon Priest, charred black by its last effort for retaliation, landed on the floor with a thud to cause a twitch to appear on the face of the last man standing.
Glymet.
He couldn't foresee this one, not in such a situation.
It felt like a disaster.
His friend Swims-at-Night disappeared right in front of his eyes and the son of Jonrad, his old war friend, also disappeared in the same way.
The WWW Protocol activated immediately and he started asking himself What Went Wrong and how it did… but he couldn't fathom the answer.
He only knew one thing and that is the enchantment on Barilzar's Mazed Band.
The Ring was a backdoor to a different world, that's why Jon Dare disappeared when his Familiar Spirit was transported there too. It is the only logical explanation.
Glymet is still an Arch Wizard specializing in Illusions and Alterations but he was mostly self-taught and he has no knowledge of dimensional travel.
The only person he could ask for help right now is Laaneth and she is in Winterhold, the home of Jon Dare.
This was too much for Glymet at the moment, he couldn't think straight when talking about meeting Laaneth whom he was separated from for years, and meeting Jonrad to tell him that his son disappeared like that.
He had to go.
He had to meet Laaneth and figure out a way to cross dimensions to where Swims-at-Night and Jon Dare are to rescue them.
He has to go after them to the realm of the great Sotha Sil, Clockwork City.
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