Dragonborn Ascendant (29)

More than anything, it was ironic - to put it in a single word - how the temple dedicated to a goddess of light was covered in shadows. Derelict and unattended, it bore remarkable similarity to all the other Nordic ruins I had visited before. Except, even then, the draugr inhabiting the tombs still woke up and tried as best as they could to tend to their resting places.

“Hear me, mortal,” Meridia’s disembodied voice demanded, echoing in my mind. “Let my light guide your path, and my temple will unveil itself to you.” Says the goddess. “Cleanse the taint in my temple, purge the foul necromant defiling my symbol of worship and unlock the might of my gift.”

Clicking my tongue I shake my head. “I heard you the first time, Meridia,” I complained. “I don’t need you repeating yourself for me.”

“M-My Thane,” Lydia’s voice quivered, and I turned to catch her concerned look turning into a grimace. “Should we really be antagonising a Daedric Prince?”

I shrug with my shoulders. “Probably not,” I answered. “But it’s not like she can do anything to me.” Thank Martin for his sacrifice, and Akatosh for maintaining the barriers of Mundus.

“S-Still…” the brunette mutters, clearly uncomfortable with consorting with a Daedra, even after completing a task for Peryite that saw her awarded quite handsomely.

“Your servant is more sensible than you, mortal,” Meridia echoed another time. “Perhaps you should be the one serving in her stead.”

My steps came to a halt upon her words, and my brows creased at the snickering of the Huntress, a glare on my face.

“Alright then,” I mutter. “Let’s go back.” I say, turning to walk straight back to where we just came.

Aela fumbles for a moment. “What?” She mumbles while Lydia herself lets out a confused, “T-Thane?”

“Let’s go back,” I repeated, firmly this time. “It’s not like I need Dawnbreaker anyway.”

“You-!” Meridia’s voice sounds indignant. “You insolent mortal!” Hissed the goddess. “You would dare refuse me?”

“I would,” I answered. “As I just said, I don’t need Dawnbreaker more than you need me. You wouldn’t be so desperate for a champion otherwise, going so far as to call- no, force whoever approached your statue to take that burden.” I say, scoffing a moment later. “You might be a Daedric Prince, Meridia, but you are far from being the powerful being you make yourself look as. At least here, in Mundus, you are no goddess.”

“I-...” the Daedra started, struggling to find the right words. “I ask of you, mortal,” she said, reluctance tangible in her tone. “Please, cleanse my temple.”

Pausing another time, I turned, Aela and Lydia facing me with incredible looks even as I smiled.

“There,” I muttered. “Was it so hard to ask?” I asked, only to be met with silence. A huff escaped me as I shook my head, grabbing my axe as my party and I advanced through a ruined chamber, a pedestal elevated right in the middle of the room.

A door was opened, a corridor leading us to a new chamber deeper underground, a place filled with undead shades. Dark, corrupted wispy creatures with an almost ethereal shape taking a rough humanoid form and glowing red eyes.

Killing them was easy. While the shades might have looked at least passingly similar to ghosts, their form was still physical, somehow - the spirit of the dead forcibly brought to Mundus and constrained by magical bounds, if I was to asked -, and they didn’t seem to be resistant to any of Aela’s steel arrows. Though granted, in the dimly lit chambers and rooms, the Huntress had momentarily put her bow aside to bring out her ebony - thank draugr - sword to good use.

Killing the shades, however, made whatever magic shackling the souls of the dead to dispel, the shades vanishing only to leave the equipment of the soldiers they had once been behind.

And that was it.

The defences the necromancer had set up to defend himself, aside from the ones of the temple - which were about as unimpressive and even less of a setback to our advancement than the undead - were only some five or six dozen of shades scattered across the four chambers, up until the very last one dug deep inside Mount Kilkreath where Malkoran performed a ritual guarded by what might have been an entire platoon of undead.

“Tiid klo ul,” I whispered, watching the world come to a halt before me. “Wuld nah kest!” I then cried, whirling forward with my axe in hand to stop right in behind the necromancer, striking not a moment later with the ebon blade.

Ebony cut deep, slicing and shattering bone all at once.

Poor Malkoran, dead before he could even realise it.

I didn’t dwell more than an instant on his death however. Was it bad that the act of killing became trivial to me? Maybe, but then again, with all the instincts and memories I now have it’s not surprising I don’t even bat an eye on it. I’m actually more surprised I don’t enjoy killing, considering I’ve eaten five dragons by now, which would have been worrisome enough Aela would probably be dragging me to the Greybeards even against my will. Thankfully, that didn’t come to pass.

Yet.

Shifting, I easily move between the lines of shades to dispatch them to the afterlife with my blade, making quick work of the undead that fell by my axeblade with the same ease butter is cut by a knife. There was a sense in my chest, a feeling of pressure that slowly grew as time remained stopped until it became unbearable that told me how long I’d be able to maintain time halted.

And, as it turned out, it was a lot of time - however time could be defined when you stopped its flow -, plenty enough for me to kill the almost four dozen shades before time resumed.

“What the-?!” Aela and Lydia’s confusion was palpable, and immensely funny by how clear it was in their expressions. “How did you-?!”

A chuckle escaped my lips before I regarded the two warrior women with a smirk. “Magic.” I cryptically answered, and… Yeah, I can understand now why people like to give these, it’s pretty funny to see the reactions of people when you give a non-answer that is also not wrong.

“The necromancer is dead,” Meridia stated, her tone flat. “Take Dawnbreaker, mortal, let its power cleanse my temple.” Instructed the Daedra.

Grunting, I stepped up to the altar where the sword was being held, and wrapped my hand around the golden handle before pulling, the blade easily sliding from its stone sheathe.

There was a blinding light, something which I already expected but still was caught by surprise. Even if I tried closing my eyes I was blinded by the light, only managing to open them much later when the brightness was less painful.

Unsurprisingly, I was standing in the sky, a ball of light akin to a magelight spell hovering in front of me.

“Ahhh, Meridia…”

“Mortal…” The Daedra greeted me back with the same enthusiasm of a dead fish. “I loathe you. But there is no one better to become my champion than you. Take Dawnbreaker and spread my name to the people of Tamriel, let my light guide them in times of darkness.” Ordered the ball of light, to which I only scoffed in return.

“You’re awfully arrogant, Meridia,” I grunted. “Dawnbreaker is mine. Spoils, you know…” I shrug. “Besides that, what do I gain by being your champion? Your favour?” I ask, grunting. “I don’t need that either.”

“You-...!” Oh, how she wanted to strangle me. If I was anywhere else but Mundus, I’m sure the goddess would have smitted me with a beam of light by now.

Alas, to her immense discontent, I was not.

“Then what do you want, you insolent vermin?” She demanded. “My blessings? My power?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Your blessing would do, I suppose.” I answered, which seemed to bewilder the Daedra given that she was stunned into shocked silence.

I huffed, crossing my arms.

“By the way, while I’m already at it,” I continued. “If you want to get worshippers, which you clearly don’t, you should try to appeal more to the people. Like, Azura for instance. A gorgeous woman, the most beautiful thing in creation. That angel statue… if you were to take a form like that, I can guarantee you’d have dozens flocking to you.”

“Lies!” She hissed and I shook my head.

“I’m not!” I replied. “Being pretty goes a long way to convince people. Once again, look at Azura, or Nocturnal for that matter. Divines, what I’d do to that woman…” I was man enough to admit I simped hard to the Daedric Prince of Darkness and Shadows, and that I only did the Thieves Guild questline because of the Nightingale armour, the coolest looking armour in the entire game together with Daedric Armour and the patron god of the Thieves Guild.

I mean, I was thirteen when I played Skyrim for the first time, and getting hit full force by an early puberty only seemed to exacerbate my interest in the most… provocative looking character in the game.

I was a horny teenager, sue me!

“Ahem-” I cleared my throat. “What I meant to say is, if you want more followers, worshippers or whatever you want to call them, you need a better image than just… a ball of light.”

“And I should consider your words for which reason?” Inquired the Daedra, and I shrugged in return.

“Aren’t you going to give me your blessing?” I quipped back. “Become your champion, or whatnot? My opinion should matter because I’m your representative in Mundus, even if you can watch it, your attention isn’t here every minute, is it?”

“I have better things to take care of than watch you mortals,” said Meridia. “Though your idea does have some merit, even if it’s clear to me you just want to slake your lusts in my divine form. But having fewer worshippers than even Molag Bal?” She spat the name of the other Daedric Prince. “Such travesty cannot- will not stand!”

And so I became the champion of a Daedric Prince.

-x-X-x-

A/N: I can only say I hate children parties, and that rain ruins internet connections. Alas, I still managed to post this chapter Sunday, so that's okay, I guess.