203 Chapter VII: Ramblings on Permanence

"Aaaand done!" Alor proclaims happily and places the disorderly mess that is his journal/grimoire back into its holster "Anything else that needs doing, my lord?"

"You can relax now." I wave him off "We are just waiting for our new friend to finish with her... cooking session."

And it could quite literally be called that, as instead of just simply draining the corpses Serana pulled out some supplies from her own oblivion storage space and set up an alchemy station with surprising efficiency. She had already brewed a dozen blood potions and I had to give respect where it was due, she looked almost as skilled as Hakan while doing so, even if she did lack his... spirit of discovery.

All under the watchful gaze of Nightshade, of course.

"I can hardly imagine living so long." Alor mutters while looking at the vampire "I am stunned just imagining all of the things I could learn in all that time."

"I fear it is nowhere near that simple." I shake my head "Achieving agelessness is easier than it may initially seem and even more so for an elf, the hard part is keeping yourself motivated and not falling into the pitfalls of old age while doing so."

He looks into the distance, his expression contemplative "I shudder at the mere thought of such a thing... though I must ask is seeking immortality a good thing? Did the gods not make us mortal for a reason?"

"Agelessness, not immortality." I correct almost reflexively "One should not fear death for it is a natural part of life but if one is capable then avoiding old age and degradation is perfectly acceptable, or that is what I believe at least."

I hum, growing equally contemplative "As for the answer to your actual question, agelessness should never be the goal but just simply another means for your true goals. Seeking to escape the inevitable will merely lead you to making terrible mistakes and will in the end be utterly pointless as you had no true goal to begin with."

"Ah, I think I understand." His eyes widen a bit "If one were to spend their entire lifetime chasing immortality one would find it to be pointless, but if one was to spend it seeking a goal and achieve immortality in the process then it would carry actual purpose."

I give him an approving look "You are surprisingly wise for someone who was little more than a goblin up until recently."

"That simply makes the achievement all the more fulfilling." He smirks, utterly unoffended by my comment "Though I have to ask, how are you so certain about these ephemeral concepts? Are you not yourself rather young, my lord?"

I stare at him for what must have been an uncomfortably long time as he suddenly shudders and raises his hands placatingly "I will of course understand if you do not wish to speak of it, I have no right to demand your secrets."

"Pay it no mind." I look away "I do not judge your curiosity for I am no better." I trail off for a silent while, the clinking of a mortar and pestle and the rushing of water filling the sudden quiet.

"The answer to your question is a rather simple yet incredibly complex one." I mutter "One should not fear death for it is not the end but just another beginning, that is all I shall say on the matter and we will speak of this no more."

It takes him all of half a second to understand my meaning and yet in that instant he looks like he had learned the secrets of the world itself, as if he had just achieved some form of enlightenment "Of course my lord." He says with his usual respectful tone, this time tinged with true reverence "I apologize for my overenthusiasm."

'You sure it was smart to tell him that pops?' Scorch chirps mentally.

I think of a shrug through our connection 'Even if he was to start spreading the information people would just think him mad or an idiot. The kid looked inquisitive and it reminded me of myself at some point so I threw him a bone.'

'Whatever floats your boat' Scorch returns with an equal lack of care 'By the way, the thirsty n'wah seems to have finished brewing her bodily fluids.'

I hold back a chortle and look to see that Serana had indeed finished packing and was now trying, and failing, to chat with Nightshade, said snow elf contenting herself with merely creepily staring at the vampire.

"And what kind of elf are you?" Serana bends down and almost smacks Nightshade's face with her own "I do not think I've ever seen an Altmer as pale as yourself so that would probably make you Falmer... but those were all enslaved and mutated by the Dwemer... Hmmmmm..." She cups her chin while Nightshade pointedly stares at her, her eyebrow twitching.

"Kindly do not stab the annoying vampire, Nightshade." I say with an amused smile as I approach the duo "I would rather not waste our trip here."

If she were alive, Serana would have no doubt be sweating buckets at this point because, in her drowsy curiosity, she failed to notice the annoyed Falmer pulling out her silver dagger.

"I really have grown rusty." She mutters as she pointedly distances herself from the target of her questioning.

"That is to be expected of someone who had slept for so long." I shrug "It should be at least a couple thousand years since you were entombed here and I doubt that even a vampire of your power would keep all of your skills and instincts sharp at that point."

"And how do you know all of this?" She tilts her head, apparently choosing to ignore my previous refusal to explain myself before she truly offered her aid.

And so I answer with equal shamelessness "Seer bullshit." I smirk.

"Of course." She sighs "Shall we go then? I would rather not spend more time in this place."

"While it is rather tastefully built it is also rather dreary." I mutter, playing with my neat goatee all the while "Fine then, let us away!"

It takes Serana only a couple of stunned moments to realize I was walking in the direction opposite to the original entrance and when she does she immediately asks with suspicion in her voice "And why are we heading this way exactly?"

"Well you see, using my majestic powers of foresight-" I pause to give everyone the time to groan "-I have discovered that an entirely different tomb has been built exactly next to this one and I quite frankly do not feel like just leaving it there... unpillaged."

"Must you do this now?" The vampire deadpans.

"Why yes I must." I reply with a winning smile "Besides, my followers need some extra experience and you can ask me whatever you want to know while we go on a pleasant stroll through the catacombs."

Both of the Falmer send me pleading looks but I shake my head "Come now you two, I am right behind you, there is no need to be afraid." Even as I say this they still stare at me pleadingly "Fine, fine!" I sigh "I will give you some support, Arise!"

Both snow elves are suddenly surrounded by five shadows each, all of them standing protectively around the duo. 

"Umbramancy?" I hear Serana mutter.

"A specialty of mine." I brag as easily as I breathe "No one else can quite... take the load as it were."

The unimpressed look she gives me doesn't dissuade me in the least.

"Oh and would you kindly disable the gargoyles about to attempt to rip our innards out?" I suddenly ask.

Her hand moves almost automatically as a pulse of dark blue flies out and hits the gargoyle statues, whatever magic was gathering within them suddenly stopping altogether. Her movements are in fact so instinctual that she looks at her hand in confusion and mutters a surprised "Oh."

"Someone seems to have forgotten more than they were letting on." I raise an eyebrow and she suddenly looks like a deer stuck in headlights "No need for that, my earlier stance remains."

"Right..." She relaxes by a fraction but still eyes me warily as we ascend into the nearby Nord crypt.

"They are actual Falmer by the way." I choose to break the silence and distract her from whatever existential crisis she was about to go through.

She looks at the duo currently blasting the ash out of a bunch of Draugr in surprise "How?"

"Personal magical power, potent alteration, and a bunch of rituals." I explain flippantly "Rather costly but it does place a caste of magi firmly into my debt and that is something I can always use." I rub my hands exaggeratedly.

She turns silent as we walk even deeper into the tomb, then frowns "You did call yourself some kind of lord."

"Indeed I did." I nod as I lazily blast a rather powerful Draugr who was just about to shout my vassals to pieces with a bolt of sunfire "While my house is a Dunmeri one, I do not mind recruiting others into my ranks, I do after all technically serve the Empire at the moment and they are rather firm on that little point."

"The Empire?" She questions "The last one I remember was the Remans but those fell rather quickly..."

"The Akaviri Potentate that followed the fall of that dynasty actually lasted longer than their masters funnily enough." I explain to her surprise "Add another interregnum, a massive war of conquest that united the whole continent and ascended the Dragonborn Talos to a god, a Daedric invasion or three, the end of previously mentioned Talos' dynasty during said invasions, another short interregnum, a reunified Empire, a war against the Altmer Dominion ending in a truce that inadvertently caused the current civil war in Skyrim."

I take a deep breath after my stream of consciousness turned exposition dump "And that should be the abridged version of the past couple thousand years."

Serana has a rather faraway look before seemingly forcing all the information down and muttering "That is... a lot." Her expression shifts to a more curious one "Tell me, this civil war... is it the East against the West again?"

"Just about, with some minor shifts of course." I reply with amusement in my voice.

She shakes her head "The more things change the more they stay the same, or so it would seem."

"That they do." I say absentmindedly as we enter a vast chamber filled to the brim with Draugr and skeletons, all of whom suddenly zero in on our position with their glowing blue eyes.

"Well then, we might as well see what you can do." I point leadingly toward the horde of dead things.

"What, and leave none of the fun for you?" She asks tauntingly, though I easily notice the attempt at information gathering.

I simply shrug in response "I know what I can do, but do you know what you can?"

She nods with some reluctance "Very well." She closes her eyes momentarily, only to open them an instant later, yet where once a calm glow could be found a predatory gleam now filled the ancient creature's gaze... And then came the Magicka burst.

As she moved out to engage with the horde of undead I couldn't help but praise my earlier patience for I held no doubts we would have all gotten buried in the caverns if the two of us ever came to blows.

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Doth thou even stone?

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