Being blind the netchiman's wife wandered into a cave on her way to the domains of House Indoril. It so happened that this cave was a Dwemeri stronghold. The Dwemer spied the egg and captured the netchiman's wife. They bound her head to foot and brought her deep within the earth.
She heard one say, 'Go and make a simulacrum of her and place it back on the surface, for she has something akin to what we have and so the Velothi will covet it and notice if she is too long away.'
In the darkness, the netchiman's wife felt great knives try to cut her open. When the knives did not work, the Dwemer used solid sounds. When those did not work, great heat was brought to bear. Nothing was of any use, and the egg of Vivec remained safe within her.
A Dwemer said, 'Nothing is of any use. We must go and misinterpret this.'
Vivec felt that his mother was afraid, and so consoled her.
'The fire is mine: let it consume thee,
And make a secret door
At the altar of Padhome,
In the House of Boet-hi-Ah
Where we become safe
And looked after.'
This old prayer made the netchiman's wife smile and begin such a deep sleep that when Dwemeri atronachs returned with cornered spheres and cut her apart she did not awake and died peacefully. Vivec was removed from her womb and placed within a magical glass for further study. To confound his captors, he channeled his essence into love, an emotion the Dwemer knew nothing about.
The egg said:
'Love is used not only as a constituent in moods and affairs, but also as the raw material from which relationships produce hour-later exasperations, regrettably fashioned restrictions, riddles laced with affections known only to the loving couple, and looks that linger too long. Love is also an often-used ingredient in some transparent verbal and nonverbal transactions where, eventually, it can sometimes be converted to a variety of true devotions, some of which yield tough, insoluble, and infusible unions. In its basic form, love supplies approximately thirteen draughts of all energy that is derived from relationships. Its role and value in society at large are controversial.'
The Dwemer were vexed at these words and tried to hide behind their power symbols. They sent their atronachs to remove the egg-image from their cave and place it within the simulacrum they had made of Vivec's mother.
A Dwemer said, 'We Dwemer are only aspirants to this that the Velothi have. They shall be our doom in this and the eight known worlds, NIRN, LHKAN, RKHET, THENDR, KYNRT, AKHAT, MHARA, and JHUNAL.'
The secret to doom is within this Sermon.
The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
Grulmar was standing on the other side of Neloth's laboratory, watching the crazy Telvanni perform some kind of ritual, mumbling something under his breath while drawing lines on the ground, closely followed by Daedric runes. The Orc was hoping Neloth wasn't about to conjure some blood-raged daedroth or something. He never saw a rune like that in his life, but that actually didn't really mean anything, because he hadn’t seen all that many runes. His facial muscles twitched and then he shrugged. Tusk it. Not goin' to be around to find out what's all that bullshit about! If he really is summonin' Daedra, I’d rather be somewhere else.
He stepped to the shaft leading down to the ground floor of the tower and touched a ring on his forefinger, focusing on the magicka flowing through it and he released it. He felt his feet leave the ground and he slowly began descending down. The ring was enchanted with a weak levitation spell, given to him so that he could get to the top of the tower without climbing. Which I'm eternally grateful for…
As soon as he landed on the ground, the door in front of him opened and Talvas Fathryon nearly bumped into him. The Dunmer raised his eyebrows and an amused look appeared on his face. “Running away from Neloth already?”
Grulmar looked up and frowned. “He's drawin' some rune right now and still thinks I'm some kind of servant. ‘You, Orc! Fetch me that Soul Gem!’ That's pretty much the only time he notices me.”
“Antuta admaan,” Talvas said and Grulmar frowned in confusion. He knew a little bit of Dunmeris, but he had no idea what the Dunmer just said. Talvas noticed his confused look and smiled. “Old Dunmeri saying. ‘Learn by serving.’ Just give it time and in the meantime, watch. You say he's drawing a rune, right? Well...then you're right about running away. Master Neloth recently found a…” Talvas Hesitates and Grulmar didn’t like that. “Pleasure in questioning Xyvkyns.”
The Orc shook his head. I probably don't even want to know what precisely that means...Crazy Telvanni and their conjurin'. Daedra are bad! Period! he thought, but also narrowed his eyes in curiosity. “Xyvkyn?”
The Dunmer nodded and showed him to the door, following Grulmar outside. It was surprisingly nice day outside with no ash storms or wind. The temperature was pleasant. Here and there, sunrays even pierced the grey clouds floating above Solstheim. “Yes, Xyvkyns. An...experiment of Molag Bal as I've heard. A combination of Dremora and Xivilai. Master Neloth is trying to figure out how exactly the Daedric Prince combined the vestiges of those two daedra into one daedroth.”
“Ugh,” Grulmar shivered. “Just imagined Dremora and Xivilai tuskin' each other…”
A terrible scream echoed from the tower and both apprentices looked up, almost expecting that the tower would explode any moment. The Orc shuddered and shook his head. “Alright. I'm outta here…”
“So soon?” Talvas smirked, raising an eyebrow. “You just barely started.”
Grulmar looked at him and then looked down, kicking the ash on the ground, pushing it into the air. “Started what? I'm just a lowly Orc good only for fetchin' stuff. Master Ego isn't goin' to teach me anythin'.”
Talvas sighed. “Give it some time. He just has to acknowledge you first. Just be patient. And in the meantime maybe I could teach you something?”
“You?” Grulmar raised his eyebrows. Not because he thought Talvas wasn't able to teach him, he probably knew more about magic than Grulmar, but because he was willing. He certainly didn't expect that. The Dunmer was strangely friendly - most of the time - and that, for some reason, bothered the Orc. I don't know, maybe I just expected that he'd be the same asshole Dunmer as Brelyna Maryon or somethin'.
“Thanks for the word of confidence,” Fathryon frowned and Grulmar shook his head.
“No, it's not that,” he said, scratching his neck. “Just…” He pointed at the tower. “I expected Telvanni to be more like him. Bat-shit crazy, paranoid and stuff like that. But ya aren't exactly prime example of the Great House Telvanni.”
Talvas grimaced at that and Grulmar could see how he was struggling with the words he wanted to say. “Well, uh...I'm not exactly Telvanni. More like...Hlaalu.” Grulmar's eyes nearly popped out and the Dunmer continued, noticing his reaction. “Born into the House of Hlaalu, but…” It was Talvas’ turn to look away. “I had fallen of grace, sort of. I left Morrowind, went to College of Winterhold, but Aren...well, I ended up here eventually. Been here nearly thirty years now.”
“Ah,” Grulmar said, quite shocked. He had no idea that someone born into one House could join the other, because the rivalries between the Houses were famous. “What happened?”
“I'd rather not discuss that,” the Dunmer looked aside again as if nervous. “If you don't mind.”
“Heh. Messup. Even more fittin' now,” the Orc chuckled.
“I see you don't want the lessons then.”
Ah, for tusk's sake. Another person who can't handle their new name… “I do, but if that means I should stop callin' ya that, I guess I'll have to do without them. 'Cause, ya see, Talvas is soooo booorin', and not fittin' at all. Messup is much better.”
Talvas snorted. “Windbag.”
“What?”
“That's you, my green-skinned friend. Your own special nickname coming from Messup,” the Dunmer raised his eyebrows in amusement and smirked. Grulmar frowned at that but then he just shrugged. Been called worse. Still better than pig, right?
“Alright. I can live with that, if ya can.”
“Alright,” Talvas agreed and then both became silent, just watching the stray sunrays shining down on the ash covered land of Solstheim, like slopes of Aetherial light falling down to cleanse the land. It was mesmerizing, no doubt very rare sight on Solstheim, and Grulmar didn't want to stop watching it, but the rays disappeared behind the heavy clouds again, the day becoming grim again, and he sighed.
“Alright,” he murmured and turned to Talvas. “So, there's somethin' ya can actually help me with. Wards.”
“Wards?” the Dunmer chuckled. “That’s what they taught you at the College?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Still the same dabblers. One would think that with a Dunmer Archmage they would let go of their backwards teachings.”
“Well, if there’s any consolation, Aren's gone. Like dead. Urag is the Archmage now,” Grulmar raised his eyebrows but as soon as he said Urag's name he began to regret it, as he remembered how their last encounter went.
“Heh, good riddance. Urag, eh?” Talvas nodded. “The college may see better days ahead. But Wards...what a crude and simplistic tool. It lacks the elegance of the true Restoration, you know,” Talvas said and sat down on the sidewalk leading towards the tower. “Back in Morrowind, such spells didn’t even exist, mostly because there was no need. A ward is like...well, like if someone got the amazing idea to combine two spells into one, create a mutant of Alteration and Restoration. Not such a good idea considering how draining the spell is.”
Yeah, that sounds about right. “Alright, I get it. Telvanni don't use it, that's pretty clear.”
“Yeah. Telvanni use the resisting spells. Much more elegant spell. Allowing you to cast a long term spell that...hehe, ‘wards’ off magic attacks, reducing the effects or a short term spell that completely blocks the magic. Because it focuses only on the magickal, it doesn't drain your magicka as much as a Ward. If you want to block physical Shield spells are ideal, or even Elemental Shields if you want to counter one element.”
Grulmar sat down next to Talvas, his eyes narrowing as he was thinking. “Magnitude and duration,” he murmured and the Dunmer raised his eyebrows in question. “The balance between those two. Am I gettin' that right? The more powerful spell the shorter duration, but weaker spell can last longer?”
“That's right,” Fathryon nodded.
“Alright,” Grulmar murmured. But one thin' isn't that clear. If there is way to resist magic, “ignore” magic in Sotha Sil's words, how does one resist weapons? How can ya ignore the reality of sword fallin' down on yer head, with its momentum and sharp blade? He then shook his head and snorted. Step by step, matey. First magic, then weapons, alright? What was that phrase? Baby steps? Yeah, so let's take those baby steps, matey. “Alright,” he repeated. “So let's say I cast the long term version. Can it stop a fireball?”
“Depends,” Talvas shrugged.
“On what?”
“On how powerful your spell is and how powerful is your opponent's fireball. If it's weaker than your spell, it won't harm you. If it's stronger...well, your spell will reduce the damage. Maybe.”
“Oh, for tusk's sake. What use is a resist magic spell when it even can't protect ya?” Grulmar growled in annoyance. And this is supposed to be the elegant way of spellcastin'. Bollocks. “So it's mostly better to do the short term spell. More situational but still...at least that can save yer arse.”
“If you say so,” Talvas shrugged. “You're the expert here, no doubt.”
“Ha-ha-ha,” Grulmar grimaced and shook his head. At least the elf has some sense of humor. “So how do I cast it? What I have to do?”
“How do you cast all other spells? Please, don't tell me you're using that ‘streams of magicka’ nonsense they teach at College.”
Grulmar just stared at him, muscle under his left eye twitching and his eyebrows shot upwards. Which was quite clear answer for Talvas who shook his head in disbelief, mumbling something about idiotic backwater charlatans, which made Grulmar raise his eyebrows even more.
“Alright,” Talvas said and got up on his feet. “Forget all that nonsense, alright? Magicka is all around us, in everything. You don't need streams to use it. It is everywhere, just waiting to be used by you. Really, that's the reason why it exists: To be used by us, by mages having the willpower to control it. So just reach out and...take it.”
Grulmar shrugged. Alright, if ya say so… No streams, just magicka. Well, how about that? He reached out with his mind, trying to ignore the images of the streams and focus on the whole picture, magicka as a whole, all around him.
“Now draw that magicka into you, command it. Draw it through your body and out again, giving it a purpose. To stop magic. Simple. Clear your head and do just that, let go of your emotions,” Talvas continued with hypnotizing voice and Grulmar obeyed.
He began drawing the magicka towards himself, and then through the tip of his fingers through his body, letting it circulate through his veins, sending jolts of energy through his muscles, all the while imagining a spell heading his way, a shield stopping it and he commanded the magicka circulating through his body to stop it, giving it as much power as he could. He felt tingling over his skin as the spell enveloped him as a blanket and he grinned.
“I think I got-” he began, but then a fireball hit his side and the explosion sent him flying through the air, landing hard on his back, stealing away all his breath.
He began gasping for air, his eyes watering, pain shooting through his whole body and for a second he thought he's about to die. But then he finally caught a breath, made a loud sucking voice and sat up, looking at grinning Talvas standing few steps away from him.
“You alright?” the Dunmer asked cheerfully. “I always wanted to do that. Feels so good to be on the other side for once.”
“Why the tusk ya do that?!” Grulmar growled, thinking about killing that idiotic Dunmer. “Could have killed me, ya tuskin' idiot! Ya gone in yer head or what?!”
The Dunmer just chuckled. “Get used to it. This is how Telvanni do it.”
Vivec's levitatin' dick… Lovely. Just tuskin' lovely…
Comments
I would figure that Xyvkyns to be slightly harder to question than other Daedra since they're part Xivilai, who are known for their hatred for subo... more
I would figure that Xyvkyns to be slightly harder to question than other Daedra since they're part Xivilai, who are known for their hatred for subordinat... more
As for Neloth...fun fact is that in my mind he´s sort of a godlike figure who can do anything he wants, but it´s never going to be for a g... more
the use of the sermons in the previous two, and this one in particular
is one of my favourites becuase of the prayer and this: " In its basic form, love supplies approxi... more
the use of the sermons in the previous two, and this one in particular
is one of my favourites becuase of the prayer and this: " In its basic form, love supplies approximately thirt... more
the use of the sermons in the previous two, and this one in particular
is one of my favourites becuase of the prayer and this: " In its basic form, love supplies approximately thirt... more