Chapter 2: Priest’s Redemption
Dawnstar, a fishing and mining settlement located in the nothern coast of Skyrim. It was once bustling with activity as miners mine ores from the mines that were located at the opposite ends of the town and ships come and go, bringing supplies with them. Now, its a town in disorder as townsfolk are suffering from endless nightmares. Overlooking the town, is a ruined tower. Two figures can be seen climbing the cliff and heading towards the tower.
“Almost there, my son”, assured Erandur, his orange robe matched the sky as dusk approached.
“I hate to be rude, Erandur but could you stop calling me son?” , panted Axius. He was struggling to climb the snow covered hill as his armor slowed him down, his foot was submerged deep in 2 inches of snow.
Erandur nodded in agreement as they continued uphill. They reached the top with Nightcaller Temple at sight, Axius rested for a moment near a rock, using his Skyforge Steel mace as a third leg, catching his breath. “How... do you... stand the cold... with those robes?”, Axius asked the Dunmer. “ I grew up in The Pale. This land was my home for most of my life.”, he replied. It wasn’t even nightfall and Axius already started to shiver again despite having extra paddings on his cloak and warming up at the inn’s hearth.
As Erandur took a step forward, Axius stopped him by grabbing his left shoulder. “Do go any further, you see that dead deer over there?” , he whispered to the Dunmer’s ear. “Based on the color of the blood, it’s a fresh kill meaning there’s a pack of wolves nearby.”
Suddenly, they were interrupted by a howl from a top of a rock, accompanied by three white-furred wolves. “Looks like they found us!”, pointed out Erandur. The two went into combat stance as the four wolves encircle them. “Hope you know how to fight, priest”. Two wolves attacked them, Axius grabbed a wolf by the collar as it tried to bite him, saliva drooling at his hand and gave it a blow in the head with his mace while Erandur killed the other by casting a stream of flames at it.
The last two wolves blindly charged at them, only to be engulfed in a volley of firebolts casted by Erandur. “Not bad... for a priest”, Axius commented at the Dunmer’s combat capabilities. He definitely hasn’t seen a priest unleash that many firebolts in rapid succession. “The same goes to you too” , Erandur replied.
As they approached the door to Nightcaller Temple, Erandur stopped and gives Axius a word of caution before entering. "Years ago, this temple was raided by an orc war party seeking revenge... they were being plagued by nightmares just like the people of Dawnstar.", Axius asked if they were successful. "No. Knowing they could never defeat the orcs, the priests of Vaermina released what they call "The Miasma," putting everyone to sleep."
Axius was bit startled of the Miasma’s effect. “In that case, I should wear this”, he said as he wore a face mask to cover his mouth from breathing in the gas.
Erandur chuckled as he saw the Imperial speaking in a muffled voice. “That won’t be necessary, the Miasma only effects those breathed it when it’s first released. As we enter, the Miasma will dissapate and unfortunately, awake both the orcs and priests. So be ready.”. Axius removed his face mask in embarassment before the two entered the temple.
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They were at the entry hall. It looked abandoned with benches destroyed and cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. The only thing that stood out was a totem in the center, behind the podium, which bore the image of Vaermina. Axius noticed a iluminated table on the left-hand wall with a shrine of Mara on it. “I prepared a makeshift shrine, you may pray at it if you want.”, Erandur said.
Axius headed towards the shire kneeled on one knee infront of it and prayed, “Lady Mara, please grant us protection from the darkness of this foul place. May our hearts never be corrupted by the temptation of Daedras.”
After he was finished, Erandur began to fire a stream of flames at the totem of Vaermina, revealing a doorway behind it. Axius grew more suspicious of Erandur, “First he tells me about the Miasma and the raiding party, now he opens up a path in an abandoned temple? Something tells me this Dunmer is keeping secrets.”, Axius thought.
The two then approched an iron-barred window and looked below at a staff with a skull on top, surrounded in a red-tinted barrier. “Behold the source of Dawnstar’s woe, the Staff of...”
“Corruption”, Axius finished Erandur’s sentence.
“I’ve heard stories about the Staff and its evil powers but I never thought I would see it in person.” Axius said in a tone that was part awe and part hatred. “We must destroy that thing, Erandur.”
“Indeed but we have to reach the Inner Sanctum and disable the barrier.”
As they walked across the purple mist that blankets the ground, it dissapates, causing two Orcs infront of them to wake up. “Huh? Hey, there’s still people here!”, shouted one Orc to his comrade. He charged at Axius, his battleaxe high above his head and slammed it onto the Imperial but he dodged right, his battleaxe embeded on the ground. Axius proceed to smash the wooden shaft of the battleaxe, leaving the Orc weaponless. In a state of shock, the Orc met his end with cold steel hitting his face.
Axius celebrated his victory but was cut short as he was shoved into the wall by the other Orc. “I’ll have your head!”, said the Orc as he held the tip of his greatsword on top of Axius’s neck. Before he could thrust his greatsword down, Erandur fired a firebolt on his face which left him screaming in pain. Axius got up and finished him off with a punch in his charred face which he later regret as he rubbed his knuckles.
“Now that they’ve been dealt with, let’s continue down”, Erandur reminded.
The two were stopped by a barrier, preventing them from going further. “Damn it, the priests must of activated this barrier before the Miasma was released.”, Erandur cursed. “Perhaps we could bypass the barrier if we check for something at the library”.
“There’s something wrong with you Erandur, the way you fight, the knowledge you have on this temple. You’re hiding something and I want to know what.”, Axius finally spoke out his mind. Erandur sighed, knowing he can’t keep his secrets forever.
"I suppose there's no point in concealing the truth any longer. My knowledge of this temple comes from personal experience. I was a priest of Vaermina." , he revealed.
“Then why didn’t you just spoke the truth to the villagers back at the inn?”, asked Axius who seemed calmed at Erandur’s answer.
“And what would you have me say!? Sorry for following the misguided teachings of a mad Divine? Sorry for stealing memories from children? Do you realize when the orcs attacked, I was only concerned with myself? I fled... and left my brothers and sisters behind to die.", Erandur raised his voice, expressing his anger and remorse before lowering it to a saddened tone.
"I've spent the last few decades living in regret and seeking redemption from Mara. And by Her Benevolence, I will right my wrongs.", he continued.
Axius felt sympathy towards the Dunmer. Before he revealed his secret, Axius sensed Erandur had a bit of grief when they step into the Temple. “Look, I don’t want to know what you did in your past. I’m just glad you found enlightenment from Mara.”, Erandur was grateful that Axius didn’t hate him for being a former Daedric worshipper.
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“Right, the library is this way, I still have the key to unlock it”, as Erandur regained his common self. Axius could see a few priests and orcs still sleeping inside the library from the grates of the wooden door. When Erandur unlocked the door, the Miasma began to dissapated, waking them.
“We should let them fight, then kill the stragglers”, Axius quietly said to Erandur as they crouched behind the door, peeking at the Orcs and priests fighting. After a few minutes, the sounds of fighting and cries of pain ceased with only two priests survived.
“Now!”, shouted Axius as they barged into the library, surprising the priests. Erandur took the one at the top platform while Axius jumped down from the stone bridge connecting the platform with the doorway, onto the priest below.
The priest cast a stream of lightning at the descending Imperial but Axius casted a spell ward which block most of the damage and slammed his mace on the top of the priest’s head. Axius felt a bit of shock as he regained his footing then heard a loud thud as the burned body of the remaining priest fell from the platform above.
“Now that the library is cleared, we should begin searching for a book called The Dreamstride.” , announced Erandur as he climbed down the stone steps.
“What does it look like?”, Axius asked.
“It’s a thick light blue book of alchemical recipes with the image of Vaermina on its cover.”, explained Erandur. “I’ll search here, you’ll search at the top”.
As Axius began searching at the top, he started to view the condition of the library. The wooden bookshelves were rotting, a brazier near the right wall was knocked down, spilling ash on the floor, slowly igniting a bookshelf. Most of the books were either burned or ruined, dampening his spirit on finding The Dreamstrider intact. Axius collected some of the midly damaged books to be used to make scrolls. “Now all I need is some ink” , he thought.
Axius went near the brazier to look over there, he suddenly saw a book matching Erandur’s description, placed on a stand but it was near the ashes. Without hesitation, he quickly grabbed the book. “Thank the Divines, if a fireball hit near it, this book would of been nothing but a pile of cinders”, Axius was relieved he found the book and called out towards Erandur.
“That’s good. Let me take a look....”, Erandur thanked Axius as he gave him the book and he began checking it. “Mara be praised! There is a way to bypass the barrier to the Inner Sanctum, it involves a potion called Vaermina’s Torpor.”
“Vaermina’s... Torpor?”, Axius was perplexed upon hearing the word. Corlion taught him about alchemy and their effects. But he never heard of a potion like it.
"Yes. The Torpor grants an ability the priests of Vaermina called "The Dreamstride", using dreams to travel distances in the real world.", proclaimed Erandur.
“That’s amazing yet terrifying”, Axius was astounded at the effects of the potion, even Curamil, a master alchemist who once possessed the White Phial never would of dream a potion like this.
"Quite amazing, yes. Alchemy and the blessings of a Divine distilled down into a ingestible liquid.", Erandur concured. “Sadly, I have never seen it function before and I can’t drink it due to the tragic memories it might give me”. He soon turned his eyes towards Axius, who seem to guess what the Dunmer was about to say.
“Don’t tell me, you want me to enter the Dreamstride and disable the barrier.”, He surmised as his eyes rolled to the side in displeasure.
“You read my mind. Yes, it seems you’re the only one who can drink the Torpor. Follow me, I believe there’s a few samples left in the Labarotory at the east wing.”
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Axius followed Erandur to the Laboratory, along the way they killed any priests and orcs who were awake. After clearing the Laboratory, Axius saw it was in similar condition as the library. Shattered vials scattered downstairs, banners barring the image of Vaermina torn and the foul smell in the air due to the unfinished potions brewing.
“What does the Torpor look like?”, Axius asked Erandur as he searched the Orcs for a shield. “Arkay damn these Orcs.What kind of raiding party doesn’t carry a shield?” , he cursed himself.
"It should be in a small bottle, very similar to a potion. I'll begin searching up here.", Erandur answered before beginning his search.
Axius began browsing through the shelves looking for the Torpor, along the way he picked up butterfly wings for creating poisons. He finally found the Torpor while checking the back left. “Found it!” , he shouted, raising the Torpor in Erandur’s sight.
Erandur was relieved, “I’m surprised we could find one intact, the Orcs seemed to have ransacked this place. So... I've taken us this far, but you need to guide us the rest of the way. Drink."
“Now?”, Axius was hesitant. He doesn’t know what lies beyond The Dreamstride.
"Dawnstar's fate rests in that tiny bottle. The longer we wait, the more damage Vaermina could be doing to those poor people. I understand your hesitation, but I promise you that it works.", urged Erandur.
“If that’s the case, then may Lady Mara protect me.”, Axius gave a faint smile before drinking the Torpor. He then yawned as his eyes became tired and he fell into a deep sleep.
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“Where am I?”, Axius asked himself.
He was alone in a pitch black room. He inspected his body to see if anything changed. To his realization, he was wearing a purple robe similar to the priests at the Temple and his hands were grey. “What in Akatosh!?”, A bright light then appeared, blinding him momentarily. Afterwards, he found himself standing near the Skull of Corruption with two other priests.
"The orcs have breached the inner sanctum, Brother Veren.", the Nord priest spoke.
"We must hold. We can't allow the Skull to fall into their hands.", Veren replied.
As they were talking to each other, Axius could hear the screams and battlecries of the Orcs and priests above. He also couldn’t believe how close he was to the Skull of Corruption. “If I could just move...”, Axius struggled to move but to no avail. He was only viewing the memory of this priest, he didn’t have full control of him.
"We have no alternative. It's the will of Vaermina. And what about you, Brother Casimir? Are you prepared to serve the will of Vaermina?", asked Veren as he look at “Casimir”.
“Umm.... , what do I say?”, Axius was unsure.
Suddenly Casimir spoke, "I've made my peace. I'm ready."
“Wait, did I say that?”
"Then it's decided. Brother Casimir, you must activate the barrier and release the Miasma. Let nothing stop you. Brother Thorek, we must remain here and guard this Skull with our lives if necessary."
"Agreed. To the death.", Thorek agreed.
"Then let it be done. Farewell, my brothers!", Veren bid farewell to Casimir.
Casimir then headed upstairs to release the Miasma. As he head up, Axius could see through Casimir’s eyes how the priests fought fearlessly to protect the staff. Some overwhelm the Orcs, while others fought using their fists as their magicka ran out, only to be easily killed. As he neared the lever, Casimir was stopped by an Orc.
“You’re mine priest!”, shouted the Orc as he rushed towards him. Casimir couldn’t move as he was in a state of fear from the Orc’s battlecry. Inside, Axius was praying for a miracle, hoping he wouldn’t die in someone’s dream.
Suddenly, the Orc was zapped by a lightning bolt and was knocked cold into the wall. A voice shouted out at Casimir.
“Brother Casimir! Go and release the Miasma! I’ll cover you.”, called out a priest only for him to be impaled from behind by another Orc. The Orc put one foot on the priest’s back at viciously pulled out his greatsword as the priest cried out in agony.
“Now it’s your turn!”, the Orc said as he slowly walked towards Casimir, dragging his blood-stained greatsword from behind.
“Run you fool!”. Axius couldn’t do nothing. He was just a spectator in this bloodbath. He didn’t know when he would wake up or even if he could.
Casimir quickly ran towards the lever with the Orc behind him. He stumbled as he neared the lever. He turned around to see the Orc standing above him, dropping his greatsword. The Orc grabbed him by the throat and started choking him. “Wanna see a real nightmare?”, the Orc sadisticly asked as Casimir was struggling to breath.
“Dammit, looks like I’m done for”. Axius couldn’t bare to watch Casimir’s fate.
Casimir managed to fire a short burst of flames at the Orc’s face. He let go of Casimir and covered his face, screaming. Casimir gasped for air before casting a continuous stream of flames from both of his hands, burning the screaming Orc to a crisp before pulling the lever.
“By the gods...”, Axius was shocked as he looked at the Orc’s charred remains through Casimir’s eyes. He then heard a hissing noise as the Miasma is released. Soon, everything went pitch black again.
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“Axius! Axius!”
Axius heard a muffled sound as he opened his eyes. He found himself on the otherside of the barrier with Erandur shouting at him at the opposite end. He slowly got up and checked if his body is intact.
“The soul gem! Remove the soul gem!”, Erandur shouted but his voice was like a faint whisper to Axius.
“So... jam?”, Axius was confused until Erandur pointed his finger at the soul gem beside him.
“Oh! The soul gem.”, Axius proceed to remove the soul gem which caused the barrier to disappear.
Erandur quickly came to Axius with an excited look. "It... it worked. Mara be praised! You vanished after drinking the Torpor and materialized on the other side. I have never seen anything quite like it.", he continued . "How I envy you. I can only imagine the excitement of seeing history through the eyes of another! Sadly, I am resigned to just reading of its wonders through my research of the Skull."
“You shouldn’t. I’ve seen some terrible things when I went through The Dreamstride.”, Axius remarked as he tried to shake off the image of the charred Orc from his head.
They continued through the Inner Sanctum towards the Skull of Corruption. Axius glanced at the corpse of the priest who got impaled as they walked. “I wonder if Casimir got out?”, he wondered.
The two fought through the surviving orcs and priests until finally reaching the Skull. “There it is!”, Erandur pointed out. However, they were stopped by two familiar figures.
“Wait... Veren... Thorek... you're alive!", Erandur was surprised as he spoke in an accent which Axius had recently heard before.
"No thanks to you, Casimir.", Veren grudgingly replied.
“Wait! You’re Casimir!?”, Axius interrupted them.
“I should of known you were relieving my memories when you entered The Dreamstride. The look you had when we walked past that dead priest.”, Erandur said before turning his attention back to his former brothers. “And I no longer used that name, I’m Erandur, Priest of Mara.”
"You're a traitor. You left us to die and then ran before the Miasma took you.", Thorek added. Axius made a quick observation on Thorek. He was wielding a steel sword, the blade was a bit dull but could still kill him and he wore no armor.
"No. I... I was scared. I wasn't ready to sleep.", Erandur gave an excuse but they didn’t seem to believe it.
"Enough of your lies! I can't allow you to destroy the Skull, Priest of Mara.", Veren ended their conversation by casting a lightning bolt at Erandur.
"Then you leave me no choice!", Erandur blocked the spell with a ward, he raised his Elven mace and attacked forward but it was blocked by Veren’s spiked mace as he held it with both hands.
Axius was left with Thorek, they circled each other, waiting for one of them to attack. Thorek attack first, he slashed forward but Axius evaded. Thorek was fast but he was also unarmored, a single blow from Axius’s mace would finish him.
“Looks like the Elf didn’t have the balls to come back here alone. He just had to have a sellsword to accompany him”, Thorek taunted Axius before attacking him again. Axius grabbed the blade with his left hand before replying, “I’m no sellsword. I AM A TEMPLAR!”. Axius immediately drive the tip of his mace through Thorek’s stomach. The Nord fell down coughing up blood as a small hole was made on his stomach.
Axius was clenching his bleeding left hand as he approached Thorek. A pool of blood formed around him as he tried to say something to the Imperial. “Wh...Who...are....yo...you?”, he asked. Each word made him cough out blood, some spilled on Axius’s steel boots. “My name is Ser Axius Cornell... and I am the light in the darkness”, Axius coldly answered before he snapped Thorek’s neck with his right boot.
Meanwhile, Erandur was fighting Veren near the Skull. They were equally match. “You traitor! I should of let Thorek release the Miasma!”, Veren shouted at his former brother as he fired a stream of lightning from his hands. Erandur dual-casted his ward to block the streams. “Veren, please stop. I could help you”, Erandur pleaded. “Do not try to deceive me, priest of Mara! Unlike you, my devotion to the Weaver of the Panoply is stronger!”. Veren increased the output of his spell causing both of them to run out of magicka.
They continued fighting using their maces, each hit missed but leaves cracks on the floors and the walls. Veren finally got the upper hand by pushing Erandur against a wall, using his mace’s shaft to choke him. “Now you will die!”, Veren laughed maniacally only to be interupted by a harmless sun fire spell hitting his back.
“What the..?”, Veren looked behind him only to be headbutted by Erandur and knocked down.
“Thank... you, Axius”, coughed Erandur as he tried to breath.
“Seriously, what is with you and getting choked to death?”, Axius sarcastically said as he healed the cut on his left palm. They both laughed for a short while before hearing Veren’s moaning.
“I could finish him off if you don’t want too”, offered Axius as he felt that Erandur couldn’t muster enough courage to kill his former friend.
“I appreciate your offer but this is something I must do alone”, Erandur kindly refused.
Erandur was standing above Veren, his forehead had a bit of blood dropping from headbutting the devotee. “Casimir... how could you? After all we’ve been through...”, Veren said, he looked disoriented.
“You and Thorek should of come with me. We could of escape.”, Erandur reasoned with Veren for the last time.
“And abandon our duties to Vaermina? We were raised to serve her, all of us..... except you!”, Veren replied in disgust.
“That’s because I had a choice. Either to sleep for eternity in this retched tower or to change who I am. I choose the latter but I’m afraid you don’t. Atleast, I could give you a quick death.”
Erandur then raised his mace above Veren and swung it down, killing him.
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Axius could see Erandur wept a tear from his eye. “You don’t seem to be happy.”, he calmly asked.
“"I... knew Veren and Thorek. They were my friends. Is this punishment for my past? Is it Mara's will to torment me so?", Erandur questioned himself. There was a little bit of anger in his tone.
“No, they were using the Skull to feed on the villager’s dreams. They had to be stopped.”, Axius reassured him.
“You’re right. Now if you'll stand back, I'll perform the ritual granted to me by Lady Mara.", Erandur stood infront of the barrier protecting the Skull of Corruption and started chanting. “"I call upon you, Lady Mara! The Skull hungers. It yearns for memories and leaves nightmares in its wake. Grant me the power....”
While Erandur was busy chanting, Axius couldn’t help but look at Veren’s mace. It resembled a stalhrim mace. Upon closer inspection, Axius was breathless.
“This... this is the Mace of Aevar Stone-Singer, an important figure in Skaal lore. According to legend, he used the mace to amplify the Song of the Earth, returning the Gift of the Earth and making the land rich again for the Skaal.”, he muttered to himself before continuing. “The only outsider known to possess the mace was..... The Nerevarine.” Axius place the mace inside his backpack for safe keeping. “Can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when I get back to the Monastery”, he thought while smiling.
Suddenly, Axius noticed that Erandur was quiet and everything stopped moving. “Erandur?”, he called out but the Dunmer didn’t answer back. Everything faded to black except Axius.
“Oh no! Am I still in The Dreamstride!?”, he asked himself, panicking.
Two figures then appeared infront of Axius. Axius was shocked as he looked closer at the figures. “No.... it can’t be”. Axius eyes were wide open in disbelief.
“Mother? Father?”
“Son?”, Benedict answered when he saw his son all grown up. But Axius suddenly became suspicious.
“Wait, they’re not real. Vaermina....”, he thought.
“Reveal yourself Vaermina! I know this is one of your tricks!”, he shouted at the void. Axius found himself back at the Inner Sanctum, with the mirage of his mother and father gone and Erandur chanting. But time is still frozen.
Vaermina then appeared as Axius’s father with his neck broken, reminding the Imperial of his execution 10 years ago. “He's deceiving you.”, she whispered in a seductive female voice.
“When the ritual's complete, the Skull will be free and then Erandur will turn on you. Quickly! Kill him now. Kill him and claim the Skull for your own! Vaermina commands you!"
“I will not follow your command, Daedra! Go back to where you belong. Dawnstar will be free from your enslavement!”, he shouted at Vaermina.
Vaermina, angered by the mortal’s disobedience transformed into a nightmarish creature with insects crawling out of his eyesocket, maggots eating on his rotten flesh and partially visible organs, and let out a bloodcurdling scream before disappearing.
Axius was relieved that he didn’t fall for Vaermina’s deception. Ser Ignacius taught him well, everyone in the Order taught him well. But the sight of his father’s nightmarish body made him shiver in thought. He was soon snapped back when he heard a booming sound from where the Skull was.
“Is it done?”, asked Axius as he looked at Erandur who seemed to be troubled. Behind him, the Skull of Corruption was gone, destroyed.
"Forgive me if I don't appear relieved... this temple has taken its toll on me.", Erandur calmly said.
“Wanna head outside? Catch some cold fresh air?”, Axius suggested, to which Erandur agreed.
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The two sat at the entrance of Nightcaller Temple. Axius managed to make a small campfire to keep them warm as they gaze up towards the night sky, sipping on hot horker stew the vigilants prepared for his journey to Dawnstar. For once, Axius didn’t mind the cold. He was getting used to it.
“So what will you do now?”, he asked Erandur.
“I was intent to spend the rest of my years here, burying the past and praying for forgiveness. But instead, I can offer you my services. If you ever wish to journey with me, I'll be here.", Erandur replied.
“I’ll think about it”
Soon, the night sky grew brighter as the two looked up again to see auroras flowing in the skies.
“I can see why you call The Pale your home...”, Axius remarked.
Table of Contents
Author's Note:
Remember when I said I'll make the next chapter shorter? I kinda lied.
I had some brainstorming when putting the whole "Waking Nightmare" quest in one chapter. Veren actually uses the Mace of Aevar Stone-Singer when you install Immersive Weapons. I think it might be lore hostile but I'll let you guys figure it out.
Comments
I just don't like writing long chapters. (Reading them out loud is a killer)