Chapter 367 - Blood Attack
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*5 Day until the Battle of Winterhold*
If someone asked about an island with the ability to travel from Nirn to Oblivion they would totally be seen as crazy people but Jon realized the fact quickly. This is not the first island to have a function like that.
The Isle of Artaeum where the Psijic Order resides has the same function. It can travel between Nirn and another Dimension for sure. It was always rumored that the island has disappeared and appeared many times before so it was not impossible for other islands to have some similar function.
A 'Domain'!
The world is becoming more of a mystery by the day.
Right now, what Jon knows about 'Domains' is the following:-
1- They are places where the Magicka itself is under the control of the 'Domain Master' which means the domain master can do really absurd things inside his Domain.
2- The 'Domain Master' has a wide variety of abilities inside his domain and that includes Teleportation and Empowerment.
3- Domains can travel through Space to other Realms they are connected to.
Despite knowing that, Jon still felt a lot of unease. Having a Domain means being a Demigod in a certain limited area but what else is there? It is impossible to think that Harkon can control his Domain to the same extent as the Psijic Order. Why? It is very Obvious that there are Independent Domains like Clockwork City and Sub-Domains like Volkihar Isle which seems to be drawing power from Coldharbour.
Also, if the 'Domains' and the 'Daedric Realms' were compared, one won't find them that different. The only difference is that Realms of the Daedric Princes can be reshaped according to their wills like making it rain, moving the winds, etc.
Jon didn't even stop there, he already brainstormed in his head and arrived to a theory he called it 'The Domain Chain Theory'.
The Theory indicates that every Domain or Realm are connected as say there are 3 main Domains in the Universe, these are Mundus (The Mortal World), Oblivion (The Chaos World) and Aetherius (The Immortal World). Those three worlds form what is known as the Aurbis (The Universe).
Mundus has Sub-Domains which are Nirn, Akatosh, Kynareth, Mara, etc. Nirn also has Sub-Domains which for example can be any Domain created on it like Clockwork City for Example. All of that applies to the other Realms like Aetherius and its Sub-Domains 'Sovngarde', 'Sands Beyond the Stars' and 'Far Shores'; Daedric Realms like Coldharbour and its Pocket Realms and Volkihar Castle too.
Now here comes the interesting part which Jon noticed a long time ago. The Lesser the seniority of the Domain or Realm, the more Freedom of Controlling Magicka can be used.
This last part is a bit tricky and depends on the Domain Master but as that person is granted access to a whole new level of control, he or she can also give the access to another, as say Harkon can give Serana the same power level inside his Domain but he is a bastard and trusts no one.
So, the lesser the Domain, the higher the access to Magicka. The more senior the Domain, the lesser the access to Magicka. This can be translated by the Stability of Space.
As said, every Domain should have it Source of Power and here when it varies. The Power Sources of the Daedric Realms is known to be their Daedric Princes, the Source of Power for Nirn is thought to be the Heart of Lorkhan.
This means that Power Sources can either by an Ada (Immortal) or Power Core.
If it is this way, then 'Castle Volkihar' must have a Power Core that draws Energy from Coldharbour.
There can be no other way.
***
Jon closed his note and sighed.
Currently, he was in his room putting an escape plan and researching the nature of the Domain he is in.
Some time ago, Harkon sent a team of vampires in Coldharbour to bring a device called the [Transliminal Scanner]. If it is any other day, Jon would have had a heart attack if someone brought him a [Transliminal Scanner] but he wasn't in the mood to do anything at the moment.
What brought more to his problems was the fact that Xikil died from bleeding out yesterday and he can't summon him again for some reason.
This made a hole in Jon's plan but he wasn't sure if he can rely on a Dremora in its home realm in the first place.
Still, he at least needed to let some of his frustration on anything. Patting Nefertiti can cure Cancer as far as he could tell but she was taking a nap and if bothering her, he would end up with a lot of scratches later on.
Jon took the [Cube] and started searching for anything useful. His senses reached the Containment Chests where one of them is still shaking, it was none other than the 'Briarheart Blood Vine' that annoyed him for almost 3 months.
Jon smiled wickedly and pulled the containment chest out with a table and some torture tools. Carefully, he took the vine out which started to wiggle and struggle to break free bearing its thorns towards Jon and trying to attack him again.
"You shitty thing, time to teach you some manners."
Jon was tolerant no more and it was time for payback. He pinned the vine on the table and took a screwdriver then stabbed it at the base of the vine pinning it completely to the table and held the other part.
"I promise you to make this the most painful experience in your miserable life, you fucker."
Jon searched his tools and took out one of the rarest and dreadful torture tools that doesn't exist in Skyrim except in his tool box imported by order from Cyrodiil, the Caliper.
[A/n: Reference to M'aiq the Liar.]
"Now now, show me those baby thorns."
As the vine was pinned like and eel, Jon started using the caliper to pluck all the thorns on the vine. To no surprise, the vine actually started to bleed like a living body.
"Hehe… what a bastard! I assume that blood belongs to me. Can't waste it now, can I?"
Jon took a bucket and gathered all the blood in it. His blood was not normal as it can't spoil by simply getting exposed to air. Jon made sure to also keep the blood he extracted clean and in low temperature.
After he finished plucking all the thorns from the vine, he looked at it now that its appearance turned from the vigorous monster it used to be to a sorry limb.
"What? You think it is over? I never knew this would be so much fun. Let's keep going."
Jon took out a knife and started cutting the surface layer of the vine then stuffed a finger and pulled it as fast as he could. It was the same process of skinning an eel.
The vine withered in pain as it lost both its thorns and the surface layer. It was truly a sorry sight but Jon was feeling genuinely pleased. Jon threw the surface later in a bowl and kept draining the vine for more blood. The surprising thing was the amount of blood that came out, it was shockingly much more than expected and reached a total of three full buckets thus far.
"That's way more than nine liters, you bastard. With my size, I should have been already dead nine times over."
Jon clenched his teeth and kept cutting the body of the vine itself into threads vertically. It was a great experience and a payback. The threads he cut were also alive and started piling on the bowl he made until the vine was no more.
"Phew! That was consuming but really fun."
Looking at how the Briarheart Blood Vine ended like, Jon was completely satisfied. Even though he didn't know how to torture a vine, he could just turn it into fine threads. The terrifying thing was how it turned into something really horrifying to look at, a pile of threads wiggling on itself trying to turn back to its former appearance.
Even though it has Jon's Essence Energy, it lost all the blood and was now rendered useless. It had no specific use to Jon but he has finally established some sort of authority on it.
Storing it back in the cube alongside the blood buckets, Jon cleaned the room of any evidence and sat down thinking. As he was about to do anything else when the door to his room opened and Serana entered.
"That's a strong scent of blood coming from here." She remarked.
"I was torturing some…thing." Jon said.
"... You are oddly a vampire material."
Jon chuckled to her comment.
"So, cute little fangs, what brings you here?"
"Quit calling me that."
"Sweet poison berry?"
"No."
"Devil blood claws?"
"Stop it, I came here to tell you that they brought the device."
"... Sigh!" Jon made a tired face.
"Did you finish your plan?" She asked.
"It is getting more complicated than I thought. I at least managed to device some methods to escape back to Nirn but I need materials." Jon said with disheartened face, "Hey, do you know what is the Power Source for this Domain?"
To Jon's sudden question, Serana almost jumped from fright. Jon smiled faintly as it seems that his theory was correct all along.
"... How did you… find about?" She asked.
"I am a mage. Well, I may not look like it but I am a very capable one. Now tell me, what is the Power Source of this Domain?"
Serana sighed.
"It is a closely guarded secret only father and mother know about. Mother told me later but I haven't told father that I know." She said.
"Finally some good news." Jon's face lit up, "If we can weaken that Power Source, we can slip away from your father unnoticed."
Serana nodded.
"But the only problem will be how to get to it unnoticed." She said, "Father keep it under watch all the time."
"I am sure for a little kid who grew around the castle, you should know a thing or two about secret passages and methods to sneak around." Jon said with a naughty face.
"I was not that kind of child believe me." Serana dismissed Jon's ideas.
Jon nodded with an understanding face. Serana's backstory had many family struggles and fights between her parents. The bad drama on a vampire demonic cult theme, nasty bit of business.
"However, there are those cloaks which are made of Void Cloth. They can slip through the Gargoyles without being noticed, one of the reasons why father is very careful about keeping them in the deepest part of the armory. We'll need to figure out how to steal them first." She said.
Jon's face became blank and he held the [Cube].
"Say no more."
Jon took out two Void Cloth Cloaks right away. He handed one Void Cloak to Serana.
"... How do you… have that?" She asked with a dazed face.
"Hmmm… let's say when we were fighting at that platform, I intentionally killed some vampires with those cloaks and looted them before throwing them from the platform." Jon said.
"Wait! While fighting me the other day?"
"Yes."
"You had time to target other vampires and steal their cloaks then throw them off the platform?"
"Naturally."
"..."
She took the cloak without saying anything.
"We have a few minutes before the men coming to take you to the device. We need to hurry."
***
At the Volkihar Cathedral where Jon woke up for the first time in the castle after he was kidnapped by Harkon, he and Serana stood beside each other.
"Here is the Domain's Core?" Jon asked.
"You are looking right at it." Serana pointed.
Jon sighed and shook his head.
"Surely the best way to hide something is to keep it obvious." That was his remark.
The Domain Core was none other than the Altar of Molag Bal in the Volkihar Cathedral. It was that Altar that appeared in the game which had the head of Molag Bal and blood flows from it to the sink under the head. Its appearance was a diabolical as the game.
Jon and Serana approached the Altar and examined it closely, the first thing to notice was how unnatural the blood flowing in the Altar was.
"This is no normal blood."
"You are right. This is Blood Plasm, the fuel to the Domain Cure." Serana confirmed and added. "It is also a method to resurrect fallen vampires. If a vampire died, father has the ability to trap their souls in Soul Gems then return to put these Soul Gems in the sink here, some time later, the fallen vampire gets resurrected."
"Just like the [Chaotic Creatia]! I- I see… amazing!" Jon couldn't hide his surprise.
"I don't think you can destroy the Altar because it is a dumb move but you should do something about the Blood Plasm." Serana said.
"Hehe, lucky me!"
Jon smiled and took out something from the [Cube]. It was a bowl filled with a living thing that looked like bloody threads of a certain fiber. Jon spilled the content of the bowl in the sink.
"What… what was that?" Serana asked.
"Something to eat up the fuel of the Domain. Think of it as… a blood hungry dry sponge."