Skyrim: A Sorcerer's Tale

Chapter 494 - CX: The Depths Of Apocrypha

(Reyvin's POV)

Within the blink of an eye that lasted far too long, the air that wasn't quite air around me distorted with a loud crack, throwing a small wave of dust in each and every direction and briefly illuminating the passage I found myself within.

My perception of time slowed down as I scanned the area, quickly revealing that I was completely and utterly alone, save for the ever present aura of Hermaeus Mora that subsumed every single molecule of the damn place.

"The intent based transportation worked then." I noted, my voice disappearing the instant it left the bounds of my shroud.

The principle of it all was rather simple, Minthara wanted to face Miraak, while I spent the better part of a subjective hour mentally yelling how I wanted to find my way to Mora's most hidden secret.

Burning seven Daedric artifacts just to make a stable portal that didn't lead outside (without the proper divinities used) would have been too wasteful, so using the books and their connection to the concept of knowledge and secrets to divine the perfect path became the natural choice.

A bit of a gamble on my part, but hopefully he didn't have something more important than a Daedric Prince that needed hiding...

Best leave those thoughts for later me, doubting myself now would just slow me down.

"Not that I am all too eager to get moving as I am now" I shuddered "Fucking hate getting spaghettified." And I needed to wait for the signal.

And lo and behold! As if summoned by my thoughts I felt the aura of Apocrypha shudder violently, its infinitely distant edges groaning under outside assault.

"Showtime" I grinned, and began walking down the grand hall.

My shroud hid me perfectly from outside perception and would serve by itself on most occasions, but what I planned on doing could not be risked. All it would take for Mora to find me is to merely turn one of his eyes towards my general area for one moment and find something is amiss, and then he would investigate.

A battle hungry Dragonborn and a quintuple Daedric invasion ought to distract the fucker for a while at least.

Done wasting time, I unfurled a tome I chained to my side and sent a jolt of my divinity through it.

Immediately the fleshy crime against itself opened up, and to my surprise it did not immediately begin writing on itself but manifested a tiny seeker lookalike, one who was currently doing the closest approximation of an apoplectic glare directed my way.

"Ariovistus" I nodded, still scanning the massive lightless hallway filled with so many tomes and scrolls one would not be able to count them in years.

"Lord Dagoth" The little guy hiss/squeaked.

I raise a finger "It is Hortator now."

"Ah" He pauses and sketches a comical bow "Terribly sorry, Your Grace."

My, how polite.

The little seeker stills before shaking his head tentacles "That is not the point! Why have you brought me back to this accursed place?"

"Because I am in need of a guide." I answer, eyes narrowing as I realize the passage has been fucking with my perception "We are going to need to-"

"There is no we here!" The long dead writer interrupts.

Not so polite then "I do not plan on making you help me for free."

"Should we survive." He retorts before slowly nodding "What do you offer for this service?"

"Help me with finding my way" I raise my index finger "And I will free you from that book."

"Agreed" He doesn't hesitate for a fucking nanosecond.

'He is lucky I am not enough of a cunt to consider stabbing him to be freedom' I shake my head "Excellent. Now then, tell me. What do you think of this tunnel we find ourselves in?"

The tiny seeker twirled around atop his book home for a while before shaking his head "Not one I've ever been in, but I have seen its like." He sniffed "It would appear we are within a trap."

"A spatial illusion to be exact" I nodded at the confirmation "This is the fifteenth time we've passed by he same ordering of tomes on pre-Ayleid alchemy during our conversation."

He gave me a look that said 'Why bother asking me then' before flapping his little tentacles "It is always good to seek the wisdom of others, I suppose." He tacked on "Have you any clue on how to free us? I may have been cursed with centuries of this place but this section eluded me."

"Brute forcing the issue appears too easy." I ponder aloud "Now that we spoke of it the illusion ward is rather obvious and deceptively fragile..."

"But that would alert our... host." He spat the title hatefully.

"Indeed" I hum "Which means this" I raise a hand and begin channeling a mix of raw space manipulation alongside my divinity "Will take some finessing."

If long-distance spaghettification was unbearable, what came next was worthy of a mindwipe.

Like a complete masochist, I placed all of my things (including little Ariovistus) into my inventory, and promptly began folding my malleable form upon itself, doing so over and over and over again until all I resembled was but the tiniest grain of ash.

And then I simply rolled myself forward.

After what felt like an eternity or two, I felt myself attack the ward and clash against its surface but only for the slightest fraction of a nanosecond before simply rolling on, and into freedom!

With a nauseous groan, I felt my body burst from the grain of ash, and immediately re-clothed myself, summoning the fleshy book back into my grip "That was fucking disgusting" I feel my hand twitch.

The baffled tiny seeker looks at the passage behind me and then at me "Didn't you say fighting the ward would alert him?"

"No one wards against things smaller than ants" I grin and turn to the passage and repeat "No one."

Ignoring the disturbed escaped demon, I focus on the passage only to find that the damn thing was barely ten meters long, and was in fact not a passage but a small corner of a large chamber made up of a trio of walls.

And within was a small pile of bones turned to dust.

'So that is what I disturbed when I arrived' How hateful.

A light shudder passed through the whole of Apocrypha and I turned back around "It would seem that the attack is picking up." I muttered "Best we hurry up then."

Without waiting for the tiny thing's questions, I began moving.

I will admit I was immediately distracted by the space I found myself within. For instead of the Apocrypha I remembered, I was currently strolling through what I would best describe was an oversized, town-scale private study, with wooden tables and small lanterns strewn about the place, made to look actually warm and presentable by long red carpets that contrasted oddly well with the mountain of blackish-green that was the rest of the interior.

And it most assuredly was an interior in its entirety, for none of the sickly green I've come to associate with Apocrypha's skies was present.

The place felt almost... Homely, in an odd disturbingly eldrich kind of way.

It was almost as if I was being invited to stay, and the invitation was insistent.

"The temptation of Mora is difficult to ignore." The tiny book monster hissed.

I shook my head, sending a burst of my Aedric Magicka through my everything and felt the feeling rapidly subside.

This place was fucking dangerous.

My hesitation thus ripped away, I began outright jogging through the deserted halls, passing numerous libraries' worth of forbidden knowledge without bothering to look at them for even a second lest I be captured by yet another annoyance.

Nearly an hour had passed and I was still not any closer to finding a way forward, even if Void's Blink and my sight kept telling me that I was going in the right direction.

A voice in the distance that was not the rumble of battle drew my attention, coming straight from the direction I had been following. Made curious by the break in the monotony, I sped up and soon found myself in a grand circular chamber covered in all manners of ancient artifacts.

None of them were real.

What was however real was the hunched figure shivering above the small model of a ship, its tiny sails still shuffling under an invisible wind as the emaciated man muttered ridiculous proclamations as if they were a mantra.

"Th-this i-is nto the l-last yo-u have s-seen of Tr-tredro." The voice was barely audible "The b-bay" He shivered, his voice turning into a snarl "It will be mine!"

"This one is owned by accursed Mora" Ariovistus spoke quietly "And yet he does not seem broken, not yet at least."

Unable to waste any more time on the pity party I cleared my throat.

And with an unexpected supernatural grace, the emaciated man rounded on me, a thin and well used saber in his hand "Noise?!" His one bloodshot eye scanned the room "There is no noise in Tredro's domain!"

'Is that... a vampire... posing as a pirate?' I realized incredulously before loudly snorting and speaking up "A fair greeting my good man-"

He yelped in a panic and finally managed to detect me as I revealed myself, fight and flight instincts invariably settling on fight as he lunged at me with the now understandable speed of a vampire.

A speed that no longer even registered as a threat.

With a lazy wave of my hand, Ariovistus' physical form levitated above me while at the same time the vampire's saber was twisted aside in a painful groan of metal, my armored fist empowered with ebonflesh slamming into the poor fucker's jaw and launching him a good meter into the air but a moment later.

Like a puppet with its strings cut, he groaned and bonelessly flopped onto the floor.

"Charmed." I quipped as he groaned, unable to regenerate due to the obvious lack of food.

"You... have... not... seen... the... last-" He tried forcing himself up but fell back halfway through.

Before I could be struck with more pity bait I rolled my eyes and tossed him a blood potion (never know when you might need one) the thing clattering uselessly against his chest before he took one good sniff of the air.

Faster than he was capable but a moment prior, he grabbed the vial and just shoved it down his throat.

"Jesus" I couldn't help but mutter.

The book demon shuddered as well "Quite disturbing, Your Grace."

Some very disturbing convulsions later, the vampire stood up, his once-empty eye socket slowly generating the fresh organ as he looked at me with a mix of pants shitting terror and gratitude.

"You done?" I asked.

He startled, still unused to hearing actual speech no doubt, and spoke "Y-yes" He nodded slowly "You have my thanks for the help, stranger."

Unable to hold back the snark I rose an eyebrow "Decided to speak normal, eh?"

"Tre-" His hand clenched "I was not... I probably am still not well."

"Fair enough" I shrug "You know a way through this place?" I vaguely point at the chamber surrounding us.

He immediately turns defensive, eyes flickering to the little ship "The only way out is the way you came through."

A snort leaves me "Bullshit."

His eyes flicker to his destroyed saber, and I feel his meager Magicka begin to move, but not yet surge "Who are you anyway? Here to steal from our dear Master eh? I assure you-"

"I am here to murder the shit out of your master" I interrupt him with a raised hand, my voice a disdainful drawl "And going by the disdain in your own voice I doubt you are all that eager to stop me."

"Eager? No" He shakes his head "Do I have a choice in the matter? Absolutely not."

Before he can so much as twitch, Blasphemy is already stabbed in his shoulder, his form overtaken by a wave of grey flame as he reels back in surprise and fear. I lean forward and tap his shuddering shoulder "You do now."

He is unmoving for a long moment before meeting my eyes and offering a nod that had more weight in it than any words he might have uttered, and then still without saying a thing, he rounds on the little boat he was huddling over and promptly smashes the ting into pieces with his boot, not stopping even after the poor thing was ground to dust.

Just as I was about to interrupt him, I felt the room shudder and the shelf on the far end holding what looked to be an advanced form of automaton part split open, revealing a narrow passage that was most certainly the way I wanted to go.

Nodding at the vampire I started moving to the passage, only pausing as I realized he did not follow me "You coming?"

I ignored his breath hitching and soon rapid footsteps followed after mine.

---

After ten minutes of crawling through an increasingly claustrophobic tunnel, I saw the familiar sickly green light I remembered from the screen all those years ago, the sight of seas of ink and undulating bookshelf-passages feeling almost... reassuring.

But that was not what drew most of my focus, oh no, that would be the massive tree of oily green stone jutting with thousands of spikes of unfamiliar crystal that seemed to bleed into the seas of ink, the light glow of said crystal disappearing moments before the sea was even touched.

In the distant horizon, if it could even be called that, I felt more than saw familiar auras clashing with Mora's, the vague south-ish feeling direction of Apocrypha no doubt already alight with the fires of battle.

"Focus on the task dumbass" I grunted mostly to myself, and began approaching the tree, one that was oddly free of guardians, even as the reason revealed itself but a moment later.

Just as I was about to step up to the grand crystalline gate carved into the tree's trunk, I felt myself standing atop a precipice, the premonition of danger hanging in the air so utterly potent that even the half-cognizant vampire behind me tensed.

And yet, before I could simply bulldoze through the barrier now that the goal was in sight, I felt a distinct and unfamiliar aura, one not lesser to Mora's own, touch upon my mind.

"You, you are not my jailer" It whispered directly to my soul "Why can I not see you?"

Why hello there, Ithelia.

-------

Dun dun duuun!

Surprise stone inspection!

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