Mists of the Rising Sun 3

Foreword
''The third part of Mists of the Rising Sun. Now that the protagonists have seen that those in positions of authority and supposed righteousness may very well be unjust and unrighteous, what will they do?''

''Is Eldric Bellamont going to be a friend or foe? Who is actually tricking who? Also, what is Keeper Lucius actually planning to do next, now that his true nature is laid bare before the Tsaesci that he attempted to trick into working for him?''

''Also, what are the Ka Po Tun really up to, regarding the waters of the five streams and more? What are they seeking?''

Chapter 21
Kasumi shook her head after she listened to Eldric's story, at least understanding why the man was dead set against Keeper Lucius from the Vigilants of Stendarr. The whole chain of events begun when Eldric's father was sent to exterminate vampires, as a member of the Vigilants. Eldric's father was a talented spellsword who used might and magic in conjunction to exterminate his enemies. The missions normally went well when he was around, which earned him the title of vampire slayer from his peers.

It so happened that Keeper Lucius was formerly one of the former comrades in arms of Eldric's father and they fought the vampires together. It was a particularly unfortunate incident where Lucius was ambushed and infected with vampirism after he was separated from his allies. Lucius managed to kill the vampire, but he was badly wounded and couldn't move, until turning into a vampire healed his injuries. Harboring the hate for Eldric's father for failing to try and rescue him or come back for him later, Lucius rejoined the Vigilants of Stendarr by disguising his true nature.

Eldric's father left the Vigilants of Stendarr after he went to High Rock to carry out a vampire extermination, from which he never returned to Cyrodiil. The truth was that he had actually spared the daughter of the vampires he was sent to kill, having realised the Vigilants of Cyrodiil were sending him to exterminate anything they deemed against the Divines. As Eldric's father had always vowed to protect innocents, he decided to leave the organisation. Using the money he accumulated, he settled down in High Rock and operated a farm and vineyards.

Eldric himself was born a few years later, his mother being the vampire who was spared by his father. He did not have any traits of a vampire, so he could freely wander around under the sun. He started helping out on the farm when young and learnt various restoration and destruction magic arts from his father and mother. For quite a while, Eldric's family lived in peace, away from troubles, as he welcomed two younger siblings. When he was older, Eldric also started learning how to use a sword and he naively promised his siblings that he would protect them.

Lucius never forgot, though, and he came to High Rock to enact his plan of revenge about eighteen years since Eldric's birth. Through the years, Lucius had taken advantage of his vampirism to advance the ranks within the Vigilants of Stendarr, for his powers allowed him to fight stronger daedra and beasts. Leading a whole group of Vigilants to High Rock after discovering the whereabouts of his former superior, Lucius burned down the vineyards and massacred Eldric's family. This was facilitated by the nature of Eldric's parents, which easily convinced the Vigilants that his father had turned to the daedra.

Eldric's father had fought back and successfully took out many of Lucius' aides, until Lucius himself revealed his true nature and managed to kill him. Thirsty for blood, but having killed practically everyone, Lucius turned to the almost dead Eldric to sate his vampiric hunger and left the boy for dead, already ready to use the entire scenario to prove he had went through much difficulty. It was how his ranks in the Vigilants would rise further after the given incident. Eldric himself didn't die, though, as the blood he carried from his mother awakened, countering the effects of Lucius' own vampiric curse and transforming the boy into a strain similar to his own mother.

It was then Eldric realized he had become a vampire, after feeling the strange need to drink the blood of the living and feeling the pain of the sun upon his skin. He didn't know what to do and therefore, by accident, he discovered Spirit Pressure cultivation through his own experimentation that fixed his weaknesses. He took the swords that belonged to his parents and swore revenge, tracking Lucius down to Cyrodiil after travelling Tamriel for several years. It was when Eldric's plan to just kill Lucius and then escape, but he met Kasumi and therefore he failed.

Kasumi therefore agreed that indeed, Keeper Lucius wasn't someone that would be considered a good person, and so eliminating him would be good for the people of Tamriel. Much to Ren's displeasure, she offered her help to Eldric if he would increase the pay he would give her when everything was over. Eldric himself was glad to have the help of the three Tsaesci, so he immediately lent Shiori his second sword as a deposit for the payment as well as a temporary weapon for her to use, promising to pay up later.

Which was what led to the current situation. Ren didn't seem very happy as he was forced to walk on the pavement, although the actual problem was Shiori who could not run along the rooftops and jump across wide gaps to traverse the Imperial City at a higher speed. The group moved slowly, seeing if Keeper Lucius was anywhere to be found, although there wasn't actually much hope of locating him. It was likely the old vampire had already fled the city after revealing his nature, unless he was arrogant enough to assume he could take on all of them.

"Vampire, since he is of your stock, surely you should know the habits of your kind. Is there anywhere this Keeper Lucius would be after escaping like that under the sun? I don't think he is as resistant against it as you are" said Ren, as he decided to ask questions to narrow the area of search. Night was going to fall soon, so catching Lucius before night came was advantageous. Neither Ren nor Kasumi was thinking of capturing Lucius, as killing him would be far safer and faster.

"Most likely indoors, an inn or restaurant. He wouldn't want to stay under the sunlight for long, since he is of the Cyrodiil kind and his penalties are more severe than those of an average vampire. Even if he maintains illusion magic and constantly restores himself, his body is taking damage under sunlight. He may also hide in a temple or any other public place that is indoors, waiting for night" said Eldric, for he had studied about the different kinds of vampire just to know how best to defeat Keeper Lucius. His own physiology made understanding how a vampire thought an easy process, for his own biological functions were exactly the same before he acquired Spirit Pressure.

"Searching all those places would take too long. Do you have any idea how we can narrow down the possible places he would go?" said Kasumi as she thought about what was the next step to take. She noticed that Ren seemed to be deep in thought, as though he had figured something out.

"If what this vampire here said is true, most likely this Lucius would require somewhere to feed and rest, so he can recover his various vital parameters. As vampires cannot get sick, wouldn't the best place be to go to a temple where the ill are being healed? It would be easy pickings for food and as a servant of the local religion, he will not be suspicious. After that, fleeing the city would be easier at night" said Ren, as he smiled slightly, having thought over how Lucius was likely to respond to the current state of affairs.

"That works, I guess. So, do you have an idea where such a place would be? I take it's not your first time to this place, if you managed to confirm your enemy is here" asked Kasumi as she looked at Eldric to get the answer from him. The vampire would definitely know Cyrodiil better than her or Ren. She wouldn't even trust Shiori who seemed to have stayed in Leyawiin the whole time.

"Somewhere which would house a shrine of Kynareth, despite Mara being more closely related to healing and love. If that's the case, given the rebuild after the Great War, we could try the Temple of the Nine first, then check if there are any minor temples of Kynareth around. With such a large city, the Temple of the Nine here can't be the only place of worship by the locals" said Eldric, as he thought about the layout of the city. Indeed, Kasumi was right when she mentioned it wasn't Eldric's first time in the Imperial city.

Eldric decided to lead the way for the group, given that there was no way the three Tsaesci would go anywhere if they didn't have at least a map. Ren seemed to have memorized the streets and relative positions of everything, but it was still apparent he wasn't familiar with landmark locations, as he committed them to memory as Eldric mentioned them whenever they passed a landmark. Kasumi and Shiori were both hopeless at finding their way, although Shiori seemed to be doing better at understanding how the city was planned.

The group stopped outside a rather run down building, which was probably what they were looking for. For a temple dedicated to the gods to be housed in such a structure, the rebuild of Cyrodiil after the battles that took place across the entire province was incomplete despite the Great War being a distant memory. Eldric pushed open the door to the place, as he watched two priests take care of the sick and wounded. Keeper Lucius was nowhere to be found, though. Eldric couldn't detect any traces of the older vampire as far as scent or presence was concerned.

"If the door we used isn't the only one, it's quite possible that our enemy kept in the shadows as he exited through a back door. The narrow alleys wouldn't be brightly lit given the setting sun. He likely had his fill before moving on" said Ren as he walked up to one of the sick and looked at the person's shoulder instead. Lucius had took care to cover his tracks, biting someone on the shoulder rather than neck, then using healing magic to make the wound look older than it really was.

Kasumi nodded to show she agreed with Ren's reasoning and she didn't wait as she left the establishment through another door which she easily found. Ren followed Kasumi out, but Shiori seemed to feel that something was off and she didn't follow the masters she served, instead remaining in the room dedicated to Kynareth. Drawing the sword that Eldric lent her earlier, Shiori pointed it at one of the priests, who didn't seem to respond, asking "did a Vigilant of Stendarr pass through this temple earlier?"

The priest turned and gave Shiori a blank stare, suggesting that Lucius had used more than healing magic within this makeshift temple. Shiori kept the sword in her hands steady, as she lowered her stance slightly in accordance with what Kasumi had taught her. Before the priest could respond, Shiori moved her Spirit Pressure to her legs, covering the short distance between herself and the priest, seemingly to stab the man in his left shoulder. The priest quickly turned slightly and moved to his own right so the blade only scraped his robe, only for Shiori's open palm to meet his face as he crumpled to the ground.

"That Lucius enthralled the priests here as well. I will trust Kasumi and Ren to take Lucius out alone, but we have got to do something about the enthralled in this building" remarked Shiori as she quickly turned and used the sword in her hands to block a Sun Fire spell that was fired at her by the other priest. Said priest was swiftly defeated by Eldric using a quick pommel bash to the forehead before he could respond to the failure of his spell. The sick and wounded all began to rise from their sleeping positions, indicating that Lucius had did more than just feed off them.

"The two others that travel with you, they can't have overlooked Lucius managing to enthrall the entire temple, can they? Especially the man. He seems so careful with how he does things" remarked Eldric as he dodged a fist that was swung at his face. While he had killed the Vigilants earlier, that was because they had spent so long enthralled by Lucius, there was no saving them. The priests and commoners in this temple were different. Eldric lashed out with his palm, striking the jaw of the one who attacked him, knocking the person unconscious as Shiori caught the fist of another. Without further ado, Shiori flipped her attacker over one of the beds and smashed him down onto it, causing the man to curl up in pain and pass out.

"They would have noticed, but if they ignored these people and left me behind, it means they are confident the two of us can handle this" sighed Shiori as she reached behind caught a cudgel aimed for the back of her head, before she struck her attacker in the solar plexus with the pommel of the sword she wielded. Turning smoothly, Shiori used the flat of the sword to slap her attacker's face and send the person to the floor with a few broken teeth. While it was still impossible for Shiori to fight Ren and Kasumi, against some enthralled commoners, she might as well be considered a master.

Chapter 22
"These locations don't have streams when compared with the map of Tamriel. I understand the references to areas and the numbers, but Savirien Choraak's map and journal aren't going to find five sacred streams! Why are there even markers in barren wasteland?" complained Min Yeon as she used her finger to trace out patterns on the map that they had regarding Savirien Choraak's buried treasure. Joining the dots meant nothing and the arrangement seemed completely random.

"I noticed the passages that Savirien Choraak pointed out includes directions and numbers. There are some really strange numbers, actually, that do not always correspond to the points. I wonder why" said Jin Woo as he scratched his head. For the past weeks, he had stayed in an inn with his sister, as both of them worked to crack the mysterious code that Savirien Choraak had written to conceal whatever he hid in Tamriel. It was fortunate both of them understood Tsaesci language, or it would have been game over.

"There is also this really strange reference to the Traditional Tsaesci Sword Dance done by their priestesses on offering ceremonies. It's almost like Savirien Choraak was simply replicating information he was ordered to write. These short passages and the rest of the journal's contents don't even link up nicely. The handwriting is the same, but the tone becomes a lot more serious. Just, what was he hiding and why so many references to his masters?" complained Min Yeon as she examined it again. The mention of priestesses that came from the Tsaesci land made her remember Ren, who was of the Mikogami clan that raised those priestesses. Which meant he might understand what it was all about.

"Could it be that the numbers are actually degrees of the angle, with the change in direction from the mentioned cardinal direction being the angle mentioned? In that case, there would be a necessity to know if the degrees are to be read clockwise or anti-clockwise. Tsaesci swordplay flows in circles after all" said Jin Woo in reply as he thought about it. Even without knowing the directions, if they simply plotted the angles on the map and drew lines, surely it would point out something. Of course, knowing the direction to read the angles would improve the efficiency of everything.

Min Yeon didn't reply, so Jin Woo took a piece of parchment and accurately replicated the map that Savirien Choraak had drawn so many years ago. The work was flawless, given Jin Woo's military necessity to draw maps accurately, to the extent the points were accurately marked. Then, marking the initial cardinal directions tagged to each point, Jin Woo drew the projected lines without care for the angles, by using two directions for each point. The work was laborious and Jin Woo went through Savirien Choraak's journal again, but he felt as though the effort was worth it.

"Some of the directions are a complete mess. There still doesn't seem to be any patterns in this" commented Min Yeon angrily as she read the map that her brother had transcribed. Indeed, the lines were everywhere and overlapped in all sorts of places. There was no discernible patterns in the entire drawing that would have pointed out anything. Some of the lines even overlapped some of the points.

"It seems like we actually require the knowledge of the sword dance of the Tsaesci Priestesses to decode this map and find what we are looking for. Maybe there are things like thrusts and skyward sweeps of the blade that we are not aware of in the sword dance. In that case, we cannot just use the sword dance to judge direction, it may also tell us which points to ignore" said Jin Woo as he scratched his chin and considered the possibility. If what he supposed was true, then there was no way for the two of them to decode the map without help from a Tsaesci familiar with the sword dance.

Min Yeon pursed her lips and then decided to go out for a walk, since she already stopped understanding what her older brother was talking about. She was the kind who had spent her life mastering skills related to warfare, so decoding some long dead Potentate's secret code was not her strong suit. It was best that she left her brother alone to do what he was much better at doing, while she figured out the best way to trap and take out the Tsaesci that they were sent to kill.

Jin Woo frowned as he read the journal again, then proceeded to look at the map he had replicated. Indeed, there was no discernible pattern to the overlap points. This meant it was likely some of the original points were meant to throw the one who tried to decipher the locations off. It also implied something in the Tsaesci Mikogami sword dance would signal a null point that was to be excluded. The implication of such would be that it was necessary to know how the Mikogami sword dance was performed. Jin Woo also thought back to the Tsaesci that he was supposed to kill, remembering that Kasumi's personal guard Ren was of the Mikogami clan.

As Jin Woo thought about it, capturing Kasumi seemed like an ever more attractive prospect. If he could use Kasumi as a hostage to ask Ren about the Mikogami sword dance that was performed by the Tsaesci priestesses as an offering, decoding the map would become a reality. Jin Woo had allowed the Tsaesci to run free, since he thought that recovering Versidue Shaie's treasure was more important, but without the help of the Tsaesci, there was no way he was going ever decode Savirien Choraak's code.

Making up his mind, Jin Woo rolled up the map he drew and the original, deciding to walk out of the room he stayed in to look for Min Yeon and ask her to locate the Tsaesci, so they could continue with their main objective. Sitting around wasn't going to make it easier for them to catch their targets and complete what they had to. Min Yeon's "Heaven's Eye" was proving incredibly useful in their current endeavours. Leaving the inn, Min Yeon was nowhere to be found, so he would have to catch up to her.

Min Yeon was walking alone in the streets, while waiting for her brother to finish his self given assignment to decode what he could about the map. Instead of her usual attire, she had changed into something more casual, observing the commoners of Tamriel, who watched her with a strange look. Min Yeon had worn the traditional garments of the Ka Po Tun, foreign to the land of Tamriel. Her decidedly non local looks paired with her attire made her stick out like a sore thumb, with the natives of Tamriel unsure where she was from.

Min Yeon smiled slightly as she observed the people's wonderment at her appearance, well aware that she was considered attractive from the place she came from. She was almost enjoying herself in Tamriel too much, unshackled by the expectations of her family and colleagues. While Min Yeon's pride in her own strength made it hard for her to admit, there was that part of her that decided a mundane life wouldn't be bad, especially after she had completed her service to her country and family.

Min Yeon cut her own thoughts off when they began to wander, deciding that affecting her morale was not worth it. It was also because she sensed a fluctuation of Spirit Pressure in her immediate area. Turning, Min Yeon noticed one of the assassins that worked for her leaning close to an alley, gesturing for her to move out of sight. The moment she had entered the alley and left the sight of the people of Tamriel, the assassin knelt down and placed his hands together, saying "Lady Min Yeon, please, your brother requests your immediate return. He said it is urgent and sent us to find you."

"I understand. Be at ease. Dismissed" said Min Yeon, as she leaped from the ground level to the rooftops in a single bound, proceeding to run at full speed across the roofs and jump from roof to roof, so she could return to where she had begun her walk. Min Yeon found her thoughts wandering again to living quietly after it was all over, but she knew well enough they were still in the thick of things and couldn't afford to slack off. Reaching the inn she stayed at wasn't difficult given her speed. With a final jump, Min Yeon landed at the doorway of the inn, watching her brother's eyes follow her as they both entered.

"Min Yeon, I need you to find our Tsaesci targets again. It is likely we will require their assistance to unlock the map. Don't worry about their cooperation. I will be able to make them listen to me. Just find them and catch up to them. When they are in our hands, the code will be broken" said Jin Woo as a smile crossed his face. Min Yeon was momentarily confused as to why they would have to locate the Tsaesci when her mind put two and two together and she understood.

"I understand. Let us kill two birds with one stone, then" said Min Yeon as she returned to the room that they had rented. Moving her hands in a circular motion once more, Min Yeon engaged her "god's eye" technique, as she stared into the abyss with her sixth sense. It didn't take long for her to understand that Ren and Kasumi were both in the Imperial City. While that was a good distance away, catching up would not take long for a pair of Spirit Pressure users.

Chapter 23
Ren and Kasumi both landed on another roof, after having leaped from across the road. They had not seen any trace of Lucius around after following the back alley path. The sun was setting and soon enough, it wouldn't be a hindrance for Lucius to freely move around outside or display his powers. With a frown, Kasumi said "are you sure Shiori can handle all those people back there? It's one thing if it was you or I, but I can't just let her be like that. It would be wrong of us if anything happened to her."

"Those enthralled there are priests and farmers, through only one episode of control. They will snap out of it easily and have little combat experience, unlike the Vigilants. If Shiori can't defeat them, then she can die there. The Tamrielic cultivator is with her anyway" shrugged Ren as he continued to look from above, trying to see if there was any trace of their quarry. He was unconcerned if Shiori lived or died, given that she was still considered a criminal to the Tsaesci state. However, Shiori had not taken any opportunity to run away, so it would have been a good idea if they taught her to keep up.