User blog:Psychomantis108/Story: Myths of Mundus: Dark Pilgrimage - Chapter 6: Crossing the Threshold

Arlas froze on the spot, struggling to believe what her eyes were telling her as she stood, face to face, with the looming figure of Jorane Lorwel, who hovered just above her head. The creature was just as the Orsimer had described it, a mouth that was decayed to the point that it bore its rotting dentures at her, she could see his torn robes, that drooped over his skeletal, twisted, gnarled body.

The creature slowly descended down upon her, bringing itself down to her level, menacingly hanging before her as it drew in closer. Arlas had no idea what his intentions were and quickly found herself stepping back, readying a lightning spell in each hand.

"S-Stay back!" She snapped, though she didn't sound remotely intimidating, due to the shakiness of her voice. She simply stood before the creature, defiant as she could do little to nothing else in this realm, other than try to shield herself with what little courage she could muster.

Jorane was rather amused by this and simply laughed, folding his arms as he hovered above her, staring down on the Bosmer as he began to speak in his spine chilling metallic voice.

"Do not be absurd, you are in my realm, I decide what happens to you here and you only have two choices. Accept and embrace or defy and suffer, it matters not, for I forge your destiny." He informed her, sending a shiver down the Bosmer's spine. She knew that she didn't stand much of a chance against him anyway as he was powerful and... Well an insane Daedric entity. She, on the other hand, only knew a handful of destruction spells and a couple of conjurations, all of which Smiley here could demolish with one strike.

"Wh-Why did you bring me here?" She asked, lowering her hands and just hoping that she wouldn't have to 'embrace' anything too bad here.

Lorwel simply chuckled and shook his head as he, once again, brought himself down to her level, so that they could look eye to eye.

"Because you sought me out..." He replied, honestly, though many had sought him out in the past, this case was... a little different.

"Oh... Yeah, my friend and I were looking for you." She explained, quickly realizing that she had called Bologra her 'friend,' wincing as she did so.

"He... Says that you have a lot to answer for, after cutting off his hand." She added, hoping to provoke him into giving her some answers, without looking like the one that was provoking him.

"Does he?" Jorane asked, seeming intrigued by the foolish Orc's attempt at intimidation, considering how badly their last fight went for him.

"Well, he'll remain disappointed, I answer to no one." He concluded, bringing himself closer to Arlas as he slowly began to study her.

"What about you? What brings... You here?"

Arlas moved her face away from him, the stench of rotting flesh hung in the air around him and his entire face unnerved her a great deal...

"I... Came here to help him, help him find you, to get answers." She answered, plainly, trying to keep as much control over her emotions as possible as well as the urge to pull her head away and dry heave.

"Hmm... A noble soul? Or an advantageous one?

Hmm... It matters not, I can use both..." He concluded, slowly bringing his claw-like fingers to his face as he tapped the bone around his mouth.

"Use...?" She asked, feeling like she was going to regret this, still the Daedra had little to no hostile intentions at least, not as far as she could see.

"Yes... The Orc is capable in battle but lacks the wit and brainpower to do as I ask of him, I had hoped that removing his hand would give me more control over him, so that I could get him to do my bidding.

You on the other hand seem far more formidable and far more agreeable...

Such tactics would not be needed with you..."

Arlas swallowed, wondering what he could be talking about, it was quite clear that he was seeking a champion but Daedric princes usually seek out their champions with seduction, the promise of reward. Not through blackmail or by holding something of the person's hostage...

"What makes you think that?" She asked, finding that defiant spark again as she folded her arms.

"How do you know that I won't just tell you to go to hell as well?"

Jorane seemed didn't seem too angered by this response, as demonstrated by his chuckle as he slowly began to orbit around the Priest.

"Because I know, that you're better than that...

You know opportunity, when it is staring you in the face. You know the riches, rewards and power that I can offer you, for doing me a single service..."

Arlas was somewhat intrigued, his was powerful and was capable of a lot, as his Champion and Apprentice she could learn a great deal. However, that was assuming that she could trust him and that idea sounded incredibly Ludacris to her.

"What service would that be?" She asked, with some intrigue as she raised an eyebrow, folding her arms. Jorane could see that he had already persuaded her to hear him out and now it was a matter of simply luring her in.

"As you can tell, my power is great but somewhat limited...

I have been trapped inside this accursed place, bound to my own shrine, by a champion of Azura. She knew what abilities I possessed, the power that I had obtained through my many years of prostituting myself to Molag Bal and Namira. I was on the verge of shattering the shackles of mortality and transcending into godhood!" He paused as he arrived in front of Arlas and slowly turned away, pacing through the air.

"Azura feared that I would take my rightful destiny, of creating my own sphere of necromancy and corruption, earning my mantle as a Daedric prince and rivaling the power of both Bal and Namira. She and Meridia put a stop to it, appearing before a self righteous warrior and telling him of my plans.

He managed to overpower me as I tried to open up a portal to Oblivion, killing me with an axe in the process and banishing my soul into my own shrine." His voice escalated as he spoke, clearly still showing anger towards these memories, despite them happening so long ago.

He swiftly turned around and flew straight at Arlas, teleporting an inch away from her face as he got closer to it.

"They stole what was rightfully mine!"

Arlas remained silent, wondering how true this was. If she was telling the truth, there was almost another Daedric prince, who would have gone to war with Molag Bal and Namira and had taken their mantles. If such a thing was possible, Lorwel believed it to be so but from what she had heard about Daedric princes, they were immortal...

Or so they said at least.

The Bosmer slowly looked up, waiting for the rest of Lorwel's obsessive ranting. Thankfully, for her, he had calmed down and relaxed his body as he went upright again.

"I was... dormant... For so many years, eventually I awoke and found that with each passing day, my influenced reached new distances, within one hundred years, it had reached the entirety of Tamriel."

"Then why did you call Bologra?" She asked, finding herself to be in the dark still, despite his ramblings, she still didn't understand why the Orsimer was brought into it.

"The Orc was one of three potential champions, who I called to this place to see him demonstrate his skill, test it myself and to see the content of his character. I also called a vampire Lord and a Dunmer, both of which were easily dispatched. He proved himself to be the strongest but like a wild beast, he proved impossible to tame.

I took his hand from him and had hoped that he would return to me to reclaim it but when he did, he brought you." The Daedra paused as he thought on it, wondering if this would prove to be an improvement to his plans or a burden on them.

"I require your assistance, Mortal, I seek to leave this stone prison and return to the world of Nirn. In order to do that, the Axe that slew and bound me must be destroyed!"

Arlas remained silent, wondering how she or Bologra were even supposed to accomplish such a task.

"How would we do that? I mean... Look at my arms, do you think that I could break an axe? And Bologra's strong but he only has one hand now." The Bosmer pointed out, prompting Jorane Lorwel to slowly lift his own hand up, conjuring up the Orsimer's, which slowly floated in the air above it, slowly revolving as it did so.

"A problem that I can easily rectify..." Lorwel pointed out, looking up at the rotating hand before cutting it out, by cutting the illusion out and lowering his hand to his side.

"To destroy the axe, it must be brought to my shrine. There I will be able to take it into this realm and destroy it, ridding myself of this retched place, once and for all."

Arlas figured that, that made sense, Daedra often made 'blowing shit up' part of the implementation and the solution to most problems, so it sounded about right to her. Of course, this was assuming that she'd do his stupid 'quest' for him and quite honestly, she would prefer to leave this place and never think on it again, leaving Jorane Lorwel to rot in his sorry statue.

However, Bologra wanted and in many ways needed his hand back, she also found the prospect of learning forbidden Daedric powers to be rather... Intriguing. If she played her card right, she could get Bologra his hand back as well as unlocking secret arcane knowledge, long lost or forbidden.

Still, this seemed like a great risk, there was nothing to stop him from killing them, as soon as they did what he asked. Of course, there was nothing to stop him from killing her now, besides the fact that she may agree to his proposal. She'd have to agree to leave this place but she didn't necessarily have to follow through with his plans.

"Okay... So you want me... erm... us to get you this axe and bring it back here, so that you can destroy it?" She asked, making sure that she understood, this somewhat delighted the Daedra, glad that he didn't have to destroy such promising champions.

"Yes, the axe can be found in a temple on the Cyrodiil/Skyrim boarder, I'll implant the location into your mind as you wake." The Daedra informed her as he slowly brought his hands together and a ball of energy formed between them.

"Bring the axe back to my shrine, in the Imperial Palace cellar." As he finished speaking, a staff appeared in his hands, a well crafted wooden staff. The staff wasn't in any way elegant, it resembled a bo staff, in its construct a tall but sturdy wooden stick, the strength of which was like dragon bone.

He telekinetically passed Arlas the staff, letting it fall into the Bosmer's hands, pausing to let her stare at it in awe as she noticed that it had several Daedric symbols carved into it. The staff was beautifully crafted, that much was for certain and it was something that wasn't achievable through human hands...

"The rewards for performing this task will be great indeed..." Jorane Lorwel added, getting Arlas' attention as she looked up, unable to get the dumbfounded look off of her face as she held the staff before him.

"And the punishments for shirking them will be severe..."

With that, he whipped his right hand to the left, holding it as high up as it would go as he charged a powerful energy ball at the center of it, similar to the one that he had used to conjure the staff a few moments ago, within seconds the sphere of power became a sparking ball of energy, which grew larger and larger by the second. Once it grew large enough, Lorwel swiped it, horizontally, hitting Arlas with it and making her explode into a clap of thunder, the blinding white quickly overcame and obscured her vision for a moment and then?

Nothing...

-

The white quickly faded revealing it to be the faces of several of her Imperial escorts and Bologra, all of which were staring down on her as she appeared to be lay on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

The faces continued to stare for a moment before looking up and exchanging glanced, wondering if they should do anything. Bologra eventually looked down, looking quite confused and mildly concerned.

"You okay?"

Arlas still felt groggy, from the looks of things, she'd fainted upon making contact with Jorane Lorwel. She didn't feel like she had, at the time but now she felt incredibly groggy and weak...

"Uh huh..." She mumbled, slowly trying to sit up as everything dimmed and buzzed around her as her senses slowly came back to her.

Bologra knelt down beside her, placing his stump behind her back to hold her upright as she adjusted to everything, making sure that she didn't fall back and hit her head again.

"Yeah, well I'd give it a minute before you try standing up, you were lucky that you didn't break your neck the first time." The Orsimer muttered, giving comforting words as always as Arlas relax, leaning back against his arm as she felt the carvings of her staff lean against her hand...

Her staff!?

Arlas quickly grabbed the staff and held it up, resting it on her lap and getting a confused look from everyone before they looked to each other. Bologra himself even raised an eyebrow, looking at the thing in confusion.

"Wait... You didn't have that before, did you?" He asked seriously confused as he rubbed his eyes to make sure that it wasn't there. She didn't bring a staff with her, he knew that much and he also knew that Arlas didn't have it on her when she felt, since he looked around before she did, to make sure that she didn't hit her head on something or activate some sort of trap.

"Where did it... Come from?"

Arlas didn't pay any attention to Bologra's questions and the constant yammering of her people, instead she just stared at the staff, in the palm of her hands, trying to figure out the carvings on the side of them.

Various letters of the Daedric alphabet, warriors, fighting mages, a crow and several other images that she struggled to tell what they were. It was even harder when her mind was muddled...

The Priest slowly lowered it to her lap, staring straight ahead as the memories of the Shrine and the location of the axe came flooding through her mind, she gave the people in front of her a haunted glare as the information dawned on her.

"Jorane Lorwel..."