I've been wanting to make more progress with this story, in fact I planned to have it finished or near finished at this point but it's been so damn hot that I can concentrate.
Myths of Mundus: Dark Pilgrimage - Chapter 17: The long way around[]
Arlas shivered as she and Bologra stepped inside the cave, like most caves it contained very little but shadow and moisture, making it just as cold in here as it was out there.
As the two of them began their descent, down the cave's narrow tunnels hoping to find the battle axe deeper inside, they head the groanings and garglings of more undead creatures up ahead.
Bologra put his large hand on Arlas' shoulder and moved her back a little bit, figuring that it would be best for him to go first, considering that he was three times her size and that she preferred ranged attacks.
They could hear the flesh footsteps of the creatures as they stumbled around in the dark, it sounded like there were half a dozen of them at least.
"Arlas? Think you could light the place up, I can't see a thing." Bologra whispered, quickly getting a nod from the Bosmer as she did what he asked, lighting a fire spell in her hand.
The creatures began to groan as they saw the orange flicker at the end of the corridor, calling to them and prompting them to turn and slowly begin moving towards the two intruders. Bologra drew his axe in anticipation but he still couldn't see anything.
"Fire!" He called to her, though the Bosmer didn't know what exactly he meant for as second before deducing that he meant 'shoot' instead of conjure up the spell. She fired it into the dark, hitting one of the approaching zombies, square in the chest, igniting it for a second as it stumbled back.
"Do that again, keep it up so I can see 'em!" The Orsimer called as he drew his hand axe, getting his bayonet at the ready as he charged in. Arlas did as he asked and fired into the darkness again, hitting a zombie on the left this time and giving Bologra the ample opportunity to drive his axe into one of the abomination's skulls.
However, the zombie on the right was able to snatch at his arm, wrapping its clammy hands around it before pulling its head in for a bite. Arlas shot another fireballs at the zombie on the left, illuminating it and showing Bologra where the zombie on the right was, so that he could think fast.
He quickly drove his bayonet's blade into the creature's skull, killing it instantly before shoving it to the floor and swinging his hand axe, roaring in rage as he decapitated it, killing it instantly.
Arlas quickly rushed over to his side as the light faded again, coming to a complete stop as it did so to prevent her from hurting herself.
"You hurt?" She asked, getting little but a faint chuckle in response.
"Nah, takes more than that to 'hurt' me... Though I was a little worried that I'd lose my other arm."
"Yeah, it would kinda suck if you had to head-butt your way to victory." Arlas agreed, though she wondered how she'd navigate the cave, without any light to guide them.
"Yeah... Wish we brought a torch as well."
As Bologra said that, the room lit up as several wall mounted torches ignited, simultaneously. This startled the two travellers as they moved away from the walls, falling back and standing back to back at the center of the corridor.
They looked around for any sign of ambush, whilst trying to figure out what was going on, there was clearly some impressive magic behind it.
"Did you do that?" Bologra whispered, though he somehow got the feeling that she didn't as she probably would have done it earlier if she could.
Arlas just shook her head, quickly realizing that they were stood back to back, so Bologra wouldn't be able to see that.
"Erm... No, I... Did you touch something?" She decided to ask, wondering if it was a mechanism, perhaps a mix of magic and technology.
"Nope."
"Then... Who...?"
"I did." The stern, authoritative voice of an Altmer interrupted them, causing them to both jump out of their skins a second time as they turned to the direction that the voice had come from. There they saw a middle aged Altmer woman, adorned in necromancer robes, holding a torch of her own.
"You two should not be here, know that there are no trinkets or treasures for you to scavenge here, I suggest that you both leave and go back to wherever you came from."
Arlas stepped forward, deciding to speak for the group as she knew a little more about magic than Bologra did and presumably more than Nair, were he here.
"Erm... Actually, we aren't scavengers or even adventurers, we're here to retrieve an artifact for the Empire."
The Altmer raised an eyebrow, finding herself to be somewhat curious about this answer as she wasn't expecting it. Still, it was so obviously a lie to her, that she couldn't help but find herself to be amused by it, they were no better dressed or equipped than your average adventurer.
"Forgive me if I do not believe a statement made without proof, by scruffy street urchin and a brute."
"Hey, I ain't scruffy!" Bologra snapped, appearing to have taken offence by the former comment.
"And... We do have proof." Arlas insisted, drawing Lorwel's staff from her back and holding it up.
"A stick is your proof?" The Altmer scoffed, folding her arms as she began to regret coming out to investigate this, she should have just left the lights off and let the zombies deal with them.
"Are they standard issue among the Imperial Guard these days?"
"No, it's the staff of Jorane Lorwel! The Daedra that lives in the tow-"
Arlas was cut off as the Altmer immediately began to look disturbed by the use of that name, she knew who Lorwel was and quite obviously feared him.
"L-Lorwel, he has awoken?" She asked, finding herself to be concerned by the prospect, she took a step forward but still kept her distance between the two of them.
Arlas was somewhat put off for a moment but quickly realized that this worked to her advantage. However, she still wasn't sure that she could trust this necromancer, didn't Lorwel fancy himself to be the prince of Necromancy? If so, these people may be his disciples...
"First of all, tell us who you are." She insisted, not wanting to part with any information before she did.
The Altmer woman stopped in her tracks, pausing as the demand hit her, she figured that it was only fare that she introduced herself and explained her purpose here.
"I am Vallina Jorire, one of the few remaining guardians of The Order of the Alluvion. My people have been here for decades, protecting the Axe that serves as the key to Jorane Lorwel's prison."
Arlas didn't like the sound of this, they were clearly cultists who worked for him, these people were not trustworthy.
"Why?" She asked, hoping that they didn't give the answer that she was expecting.
The Altmer chuckled, glancing away for a moment as she did so before turning back to the Bosmeri intruder.
"My, you are sharp aren't you? So eager to know everything all at once..."
"And you're so eager to be evasive..."
"Yeah lady, you ain't tellin' us something! Cough it up!" Bologra put in, earning himself a stern glare from the Altmer, who's eyes narrowed on him.
"I didn't as you, beast! I ask that you do not speak of term again!"
Bologra's brow furrowed as he slowly began to march towards the Altmer, though she was taller than him, their eyes quickly met and Vallina immediately felt like she was being looked down on.
"Or what?" He whispered, in a menacing tone, he didn't trust this knife eared bitch, not one bit, if it was up to him, he'd shove his bayonet into her stomach and move on.
"Bologra! That's enough, she hasn't told us anything yet, you're just making things worse!" Arlas snapped, the situation was already tense, without threats and now it was on the verge of breaking down into a battle. The Altmer looked like a quite powerful mage, so there would be no way that they could do battle in such a confined space, like this cave.
The Orsimer continued to stare her down for a moment before stepping back, refusing to take his eyes off of her the entire time, Arlas got in between them, feeling like the mediator of a spat between two children.
"Vallina, what is it that your order is trying to accomplish here? It'd make us feel a lot easier if we knew."
The Altmer folded her arms as her eyes remained fixed on Bologra, narrowing them.
"We wish to acquire the ancient magics that were thought long since dead, Lorwel is an old and powerful creature, knowledgeable of magical arts and practices long since forgotten."
"Like corpse fiddling?" Bologra asked, finding it difficult to resist the urge to mock the snooty bitch, whenever he got the chance.
"Like telepathy, dreamwalking, shroud magic and teleportation... So many things lost to our people, to Tamriel itself, knowledge that Lorwel could restore." She finished by turning back to Arlas, giving the Bosmer a smile.
"How old are you Bosmer? Thirty? What if I told you that in one hundred years, you would be able to wield the powers of a Daedric Prince, have the dream powers of Virmina, be as mystical as Nocturnal herself?" She said, rather softly as if she truly wanted to convince Arlas and sell her on the idea. In truth, she did, there was so much potential in this one, both magically and in terms of her abilities as a leader and a negotiator.
"Mages now are but soldiers and tricksters, they live to serve a lesser purpose as over glorified librarians. They insist on healing one person at a time, when we could be healing whole nations with a wave of our hands. We could defy the constraints of death, hold power without limits.
Lorwel is proof of this, Lorwel was once a man of flesh and blood, who ascended to Godhood through means that are no longer accessible to us. We need the magic to come back, we need the return of old ways, we need the powerful to rise again, to never fear the Daedra or Aedra again as we transcend into Godhood ourselves."
Both Arlas and Bologra fell silent, not exactly sure as to what they should say to that mouthful but both of them knew what to think.
Arlas eventually stepped up, glancing to Bologra with a hesitant glare before turning back to Vallina.
"So... You want to release him?" Arlas deduced, finding herself a little crestfallen, the raw passion behind The Altmer's words made her sound so driven to do good, even if it was misguided. Perhaps they could let her down easy?
Vallina shook her head, glancing up to Bologra who looked somewhat frustrated at the fact that they hadn't killed her already.
"Only if it's necessary, though we need not release him to learn from him... In fact, our position is stronger if we constrain him to his cage, using the axe as leverage."
"No frickin' way!" Bologra snapped, stepping forward and waving his hand across.
"Arlas, you saw what that asshole could do, trapped inside his little statue! If we let him out, he could be a thousand times worse! And look at these people, look at her, she's crazy! You think she'd ever listen to anyone if they said 'don't let him out?' She's nuts!" The Orsimer then drew his hand axe, stepping forward as he raised his bayonet.
"Alright lady, I'm only going to ask you this once! Where. is. the. Axe?" Bologra snarled, getting ready to chop this woman in half if she tried to be evasive again.
"Bologra, stop! I haven't agreed to anything yet!" The Bosmer pointed out, trying to snatch his arm but quickly finding that it was an immovable object, that she had no hope of prying away from the Altmer's face.
"We ain't making deals with these scumbags! We'll take the long way around if we have to, cut 'em down one by one until we get that axe!" He growled, not breaking eye contact with the Altmer as a small grin swept across her lips.
"If that's what you want, I'd be more than happy to oblige..." Vallina replied, slowly raising her hand as she seemed to be readying a spell, however, both of them were cut off as Arlas ran inbetween them.
"Bologra sto-urgh!" As Arlas tried to stop them, she felt something shoot through her body, which swiftly began to stiffen up as she fell back, quickly finding that two hands and eventually two forearms had placed themselves in her under arms and wrapped around her chest as she was slowly dragged away.
Vallina moved back, dragging the Bosmer as she did so, though it was plainly obvious that she wouldn't be able to escape the Orsimer's wrath as he charged in. What wasn't obvious was the fact that several zombies were hiding, further down the tunnel, around thirty of them suddenly appeared from either side of Bologra as he charged in, quickly cutting him off as they gnashed and clawed at the Orc, causing him to jump back.
He swiftly swung his axe and cut one of them down as he began to move backwards, swinging his axe, whenever he got the chance, whilst helplessly looking up and seeing that Vallina was dragging Arlas and Lorwel's staff away, taking her deeper into the cave.
Nair stumbled across the dirt road, leading down to Bruma, it had been some time since he passed Cloud Ruler Temple, yet he was still wandering the road. The Khajiit felt somewhat weakened and exhausted by his trip, in spite of the fact that he had been taking his time throughout.
He glanced up and found that a smile had crept across his face as he saw the gates to Bruma, right in front of him. He looked forward to sleeping the pain off and awaiting Arlas' return, though for all he knew, they probably weren't far behind.
How long had it taken him to get down this hill? An hour? They could have gotten the artifact some time ago, they could've even beaten him to the city...
The Khajiit considered waiting on them, several times but he knew that they could take days to get back, if things got too complicated or they might not come back at all. If it does take too long, it would be better to be in a city, for him and for them. He could at least convince the guards to go and investigate it.
In truth though, Nair wasn't too concerned about them, they could handle themselves a lot better than he could, better than most guards could, that was for damn sure. He needed to worry about himself, about getting a hot meal and some bed rest, so that he didn't slow them down too much on the way back to Cyrodiil...
As Nair's grew lost in his own thoughts, he found himself oblivious to his surroundings, up until he heard a loud rustling noise, coming from his left. He quickly glanced over to it, startled by the sudden sound but found that he didn't even get a glimpse of the stalker before its large paw-like hand pounded the Khajiit's chest, sending him flying back across the road, his head landed inches away from a nearby rock.
Shaken up from the assault, Nair immediately tried to scramble back up to his feet but felt an intense pain in his chest, from where the assailant had struck him. He did his best to sit up and saw that there was an almighty scratch across it, which was several inches long and oozing a great amount of dark red blood.
Nair slowly glanced up as he heard the pounding footsteps of his attacker approach him, immediately looking up to see that it was a ten ft tall, long haired, extremely pissed off werewolf, that was slowly advancing on its prey, with no intent other than to kill it.