บท 64: When it rains, it pours

After making sure that there were no more threats, Ben ascended the steps of the ancient altar, his heart pounding with both excitement and trepidation. The curved wall at the back of the altar was adorned with a giant Dragon head at the top and strange markings ran from it, covering the whole wall.

At the centre of it all, were lines and lines of strange words that he couldn't decipher, but that somehow called out to him. As he approached, the words on the wall started to glow, and he heard a low, guttural chanting that seemed to emanate from the very stones themselves. It reverberated through the air and shook his entire being, pulling him into a trance.

The chanting grew louder and louder, its rhythm steady and hypnotic. Ben felt his mind expand with each repetition, like a balloon being inflated to its limit. He reached out to touch the wall, his fingers trembling. As they brushed against the ancient text, he felt a wave of energy course through him. It was like a tsunami, enveloping his senses and drowning his world into a kaleidoscope of colour and sound.

All of a sudden, he could feel everything, or nothing, he couldn't quite tell. He felt strangely connected to something - or things, or beings, or some phenomenon - that he couldn't quite name. It was like touching something that didn't exist, like glimpsing at something invisible and smelling something with no odour. His senses stretched so far that they felt limitless, yet he couldn't make sense of anything.

Suddenly, Ben felt his senses getting pulled towards a sound, a deep vibration that thrummed with power. It was a power, no, a force so great that words failed to describe it. It was limitless, inexhaustible, unstoppable, insurmountable - all the adjectives in the world failed to describe it.

Ben felt the Force entrench itself into him, making him feel unstoppable. He felt as if he could break the whole world with just a single word, and that word - it was like a secret that had been locked away in the deepest parts of his being and was screaming to be let out, and so he did.

"FUS"

As soon as the word escaped his mouth, the power surged through him like a wave, blowing away everything in its way, and the world around Ben shattered and disintegrated back into nothingness.

As Ben regained consciousness, he slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying on the floor, surrounded by the wreckage of the tower of trash he had been building in The Room of Requirements. He looked around, but there was no wall, no waterfall, and no cavern.

"What the hell?"

Confused and disoriented, he tried to make sense of what had just happened. His mind felt foggy, as if he had just woken up from a dream, but as he began to piece together the events of the past few hours, he felt a jolt of realization.

He reached for the Philosopher's stone, but it was no longer in his grasp. Instead, he was holding a dull-looking stone slab that felt cold to the touch. As he turned the pentagonal-shaped slab of ancient stone over in his hands, his eyes were drawn to the intricately inscribed Dragon's face on its surface, which bore a striking resemblance to the one on the curved wall of the cavern.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he flipped the stone over, revealing a single word etched in the same ancient language as the word wall. Unlike before, he could now read the word with ease. It read "FUS," or Force and as he gazed upon the word, he felt a familiar sensation, a force that seemed to emanate from the stone and resonate through his body. It was a feeling beyond description, beyond words, and yet, Ben understood it all too well.

He took a deep breath and uttered-

"FUS"

The resulting shockwave echoed through the room, toppling a few items from the tops of the mountains of things in the room, but the chair that he had aimed at, only flew a dozen meters away.

"Well, that's a bit disappointing," Ben was not impressed, especially since he had been flung a lot farther by the Draugr Overlord.

He examined the stone plate in his hands, it looked like the Dragonstone which contained the location of Dragon Burial mounds in the game, but the one in his hands didn't have a map inscribed on it, only a dragon face.

Since staring at the Dragonstone didn't seem to answer his questions, Ben decided to stash it away for now. He called out for [Storage], hoping to check whether he had regained his inventory. However, instead of the usual puff of smoke that created a small window, a large amount of dark mist gathered in front of him, coalescing into a portal the size of a door. Despite feeling a sense of foreboding, Ben couldn't help but be drawn to the mysterious portal.

"This is new," he muttered, hesitating for a moment before stepping through the portal and feeling a sudden shift in temperature. When the mist cleared from his vision, he found himself in a small room adorned with wall scones and candlehorns that emitted a warm glow. A fire pit burned near the entrance with meat hanging from the ceiling to dry, and Ben recognized the mammoth snouts and rabbit legs that he had bought from the store.

As he looked around the room, he saw his shabby old broom displayed on a wall mount, along with a few Ancient Nord weapons, including a glowing Ancient Nord Greatsword that he had looted from the Draugr overlord. His scorched wand and Hogwarts books lay on a nearby table, along with his self-answering quills. The shelves in the room were filled with items that he had placed in the [Storage], including bottles of Ale and Mead.

On the side table adjacent to a small bed made of bear pelts, Ben found a small pile of gold coins that seemed to be the ones he'd borrowed from the peaceful draugar. In a small shining gold chest at the foot of the bed, he found a handful of Septims, exactly about the number of Septims he had stored in the inventory.

Suddenly, Ben was startled when he saw a figure with long horns from the corner of his eye. He almost summoned his sword before he realized it was a mannequin dressed in Draugr Overlord armour, staring at him with its beady eyes.

But the biggest shock was the sight of two tables lined at the back of the room: a round Alchemy table with a number of glass equipment on top, and a pentagonal Enchanting table with a glowing star inscribed on it.

"Bloody Hell! Am I in Skyrim again?" he questioned, feeling both excited and confused. He made his way out of the front door, hoping to get a clearer picture of his current whereabouts.

--Dreamscape--

Well, I've been stuck on this chapter for three days, I just couldn't write it. Writer's block they call it, more like a writer's chopping block, I've lost count of how many times I've edited this chapter.

Anyway, Ben has learned his very first shout, even though it's just a single word. The Dragonstone is different from the game and will most likely help Ben learn more words. It also seems like Ben's [Storage] has had an upgrade, along with other things.

You can support me at Patreon.com/DreamyApe, I literally have no extra chapters left there, but I'll do my best to write more.