252 Chapter LXXIII: Cairnburst
(Reyvin's POV)
"Fuuuuuuck..." I groan as I drop my staff and force myself to ignore the pain of suddenly getting three of my limbs frozen and then smashed apart. For all my advantages I was not at all blessed with supernaturally high pain tolerance, so all I could do was grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming out while chugging down a regeneration potion and channeling every bit of magic possible into healing myself.
'What a nice way to say you are a little bitch.' Scorch grouses from within my Magicka, completely refusing to leave the place. I naturally ignore his childish ass.
A minute of agony later the pain finally subsided and I forced myself to slowly stand up, suppressing a wince at the sore feeling in my everything. Leaning on my staff I take a good look around me. Durnehviir was already mostly disintegrated, meaning it would take a bit of time for him to reform before we could proceed with the plan.
Speaking of the draconic motherfucker...
The image of none other than fucking Jiub jumping into the fray and stabbing him in the eye was still very vivid in my mind. I honestly had his icon in my home as a bit of a joke but after this, he was getting a full gods damn shrine.
'Fucking hope the rotten fuck can spit him out or something.'
My inner monologue is broken by a panicked stammer coming from nearby, a half-burned Valerica was kneeling over her mostly-shredded daughter and looking completely lost as to what to do.
'Great, apparently the ancient vampire forgot that they regenerate.' I grouse and start limping toward them, summoning some boots and clothes on the way so as to not step onto a fucking rock or something equally irritating.
"Serana! Serana, do you hear me, child?" The panicked mother was calling out to her child even as her flesh was slowly knitting together. It was by sheer instinct that she caught the two blood potions I tossed at her, though that only caused her to look up at me blankly.
"Blood potion." I state simply and she immediately gets to feeding her daughter and then herself.
The moment the magically enriched liquid hits either of their throats they both start healing at ridiculous speeds, a mere fifteen seconds later both of them were completely unblemished and Serana was already waking up.
Finally calmed down, Valerica gives me a firm if reluctant nod "You have my thanks."
"She'd do the same for me." I shrug simply "We both have supplies for healing the other."
"That is probably wise." She agrees absently.
'Probably?' I almost snort at that.
"What are our plans once we get out?" She asks, already accepting that we were all in fact getting out of this place.
I summon a couple of large cloaks for them as I answer "We will be going to Winterhold. The college has already promised to offer you protection so Harkon will have no chance of getting to you."
"You underestimate him." She shakes her head "He will stop at nothing to see his desire satisfied."
"Even if it will inevitably get him staked." I scoff, earning a hum of agreement from the vampire "You don't need to worry though. Besides me, there are three more arch-magi within the college and even a lich approaching the same level."
"A lich?" Valerica's eyes narrow.
"He is a professional, have no fear." I wave off her concerns "He might pester you for your anatomical knowledge but he has no ambitions for undead armies."
Still somewhat disbelieving Valerica merely hums "If you say so..."
The potential of getting enthralled by Phineas was obviously a great concern to the elder vampire but the old fart would probably not care if it had nothing to do with advancing his homunculus research. In fact, maybe Valerica's knowledge will finally get him to leave his cave and help me out with the whole 'apocalyptic vampire epidemic' issue. That would definitely make my job easier.
Those thoughts will have to wait as Serana finally woke up, she blinked a couple of times and immediately asked "Did we win?"
"Yup." I nod "Blasted his head off."
"Good." She smiles cruelly and jumps onto her feet "Now let us get out of this place."
Valerica looked just about ready to start asking her if she was alright but one look from her daughter told her to leave it all for later. Thankfully she knew better than to be stubborn at this point so after grabbing all she could carry we left this place, never to return.
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As soon as we stepped outside both the vampires took fearful combat stances as we once again found ourselves being stared down by a massive dragon.
My eyes met with Durnehviir's and I couldn't help but quip "Damn, that slave contract they got you under comes with some ridiculous health benefits."
"Hmmm" The dragon exhales and stares quietly for a moment, I can't quite read what is going on in his mind but I can easily imagine his pride fighting against his desire to get the hell out of here.
I am proven right when his head lowers by a fraction and he speaks "Vanquisher." He greets "I have been bested by you in honorable battle, and thus as agreed I will give you the chance to free me from this place and earn my fealty."
"And it is an offer I will honor." I nod "Before we begin however, what is the state of the soul you devoured before our battle ended?"
He ponders my question for a moment "The brave one is not yet among my servants. Why?"
"I would ask for his freedom." I immediately say.
"Succeed in your side of the bargain and it shall be so." He declares after a brief pause.
"I can work with that." I allow that little bit of tension to leave me and bring up my staff "Hold still, this will take some time."
And to my surprise, the dragon doesn't so much as twitch in the hour that takes me to carve the entire field with runes and place all manner of non-soul energy based components (I wasn't about to use that in this place of all places), mostly comprised of the incredibly expensive varla stones and some experimental potions I got from Hakan to copy the shit out of and make more powerful.
As the final rune was carved and the final stone was laid I stood before the still patiently staring Durnehviir, my staff at the ready. There was only one last thing to do before this began "Once it is complete we will need to run as quickly as possible, are you prepared?"
"May Father's wisdom guide your hand." Was all he said.
Accepting his words I centered myself, mentally marking the entire ritual site, and after one final deep breath I summoned Blasphemy and stabbed it into the ground, sending out a massive pulse of Magicka as I did so.
The whole area in front of the mausoleum lit up like a christmas tree, the power of the ritual moving further and further away and filling up the immense concentric circle of runes I carved... and then it touched the first of the runes I made during my exploration.
And then another.
And another...
Soon the whole section of the Soul Cairn I had passed by was shining in glorious solar gold, and I could already feel the masters of this place slowly awakening from their slumber.
But they were already too late because the moment the ritual reached the final mark I pulled.
The very energies holding this place together converged toward Durnehviir, slamming into him from all sides and almost sending him staggering back. For a moment nothing happened, Serana looking just about ready to ask me if anything was wrong but then the dragon's skin started to bubble and I was forced to create a ward to shield the vampires from the sudden burst of sunlight followed by a torrent of shadows.
A sudden vision enters my mind, of massive battles amongst dragons and of their war against their rebellious human servants, of how they fought invading elves and bargained with the Aedra and Daedra, of how Alduin led them, and failed in doing so. Thousands of years of history passed in a flash and I found myself looking at a curious new realm in Oblivion and the necromancers that made it their home. The vision shifts to eternal enslavement and all encompassing rage followed by thousands of years of depression and lethargy. Before I could even begin to comprehend what I had just seen, the vision ending as quickly as it began.
The click in my mind signaling the end of the ritual was followed by a powerful roar of jubilation as all the roiling shadows were pulled back toward their origin and from them emerged a completely different creature than the one before.
He was slightly smaller than before but his new form made up for it thrice over. Shimmering black scales accented by flecks of gold covered his now healthy and regal form, the horns upon his head were no longer jagged and jutting outwards but were instead pulled back into the facsimile of a crown oddly reminiscent of my own headgear, and instead of the deep green that once shone from his eyes, now burned a pleasant solar gold.
The jubilant dragon looked down, and to my surprise bowed his head low "Thuri."
I kept back my desire to laugh maniacally and immediately asked "Does everything feel alright Durnehvi-"
"No." He stops me firmly.
"No?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Durnehviir is no more." He declares "For today marks the birth of Kreinaarvokun!"
I mentally translate that and cannot help but smile "I am honored by your choice."
"I have seen the depths of your being, Thuri." He gives me a knowing look, his head still bowed "To name myself anything but would be an insult."
A loud crack resounds through the air and I hear Serana calling out "We need to move, NOW!"
I look around to see the space around us slowly starting to crumble "Shit, you are right."
Without the barest hint of hesitation Durneh- no, Krein 'Yeah I am calling him Krein.' lowers himself and shrugs one of his wings, signaling for us to get on.
As we all climb up, he turns his head back to us and smiles "Try not to fall off."
Immediately catching his meaning, almost as if he mentally told me what to do, I use telekinesis to hold us all down.
And just in time as he breathes in "WULD NAH KEST!"
We flash through half the damned cairn as it cracks all around us, the very ground breaking open and letting the souls fall out of its bindings, immediately being pulled away by something as they left the Ideal Masters' territory.
As we approached the portal I felt a gaze at my back and turned to see a massive skeletal hand moving to grab us, far faster than even the newly reborn dragon could move. Exactly as that happened however, an unbelievably potent beam of silver light burst through the cracks below it batting it away and searing the bone to near the point of disintegration.
As Krein passed the purple portal waiting above us and we left the crumbling and bursting cairn behind us I felt a ping in my head.
[You have been blessed by an instance of Arkay's protection, the god of the dead looks favorably upon your deeds.]
Get fucked you soul thieving manchildren!
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(General POV, a bit earlier)
"My lord!" A fledgling vampire rushes into the throne room of Castle Volkihar.
Harkon debates simply killing the annoyance for a moment but holds himself back "Speak."
"Someone has infiltrated the abandoned section of the castle!"
Harkon was standing before he could even process the words "Everyone, with me!"
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As the final traitorous gargoyle fell, Harkon couldn't help but snarl in anger, his servants backing away just in case.
He ran up toward his wife's laboratory, nearly salivating at the idea of catching both her, his daughter and the irritating mage trying to outsmart him and doing all kinds of ungodly things to them before finally killing them.
Yet just as he was about to reach the door, the entirety of the room burst into pieces, opening the tower up to the skies and giving him a full view of a massive black dragon flying away at full speed.
And as if that wasn't enough the entire opening was soon struck with a sea of golden fire, a parting gift and insult from his enemies who were no doubt laughing at his foolish expression.
"Uhm, my lord?" That same fledgling dared to speak "Are you-"
Before he could even blink he was already a smear on the wall and Harkon could suddenly think just a tiny bit clearer. He turned to the rest of the inconsequential servants that followed him and they all took a step back.
It did not save them.
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QAHNAARIN = Vanquisher
KREIN AAR VOKUN = Sun Vassal/Servant Shadow
WULD NAH KEST = Whirlwind Fury Tempest
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The town bell is tolled and dread descends upon your being
the stone bandits are here.
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