Chapter 377 - Pride
*1 Day until the Battle of Winterhold*
The dust settled down long ago and the Hollow City became quite. The Soul Shriven that managed to reincarnate returned to the city and manned the walls, Sir Cadwell made sure that everything stays in order for the time being.
The Hollow City's center was the Plaza of the Chapel of Light where the final battle with the Daedric Titan Balzar happened. The gigantic corpse of the Daedric Titan was lying on the ground lifelessly. Odokuro was guarding it too.
East to that sight, there was a large and beautiful building made of white stone in the Cyrodilic Ayleid style, this Chapel of Light was the place which used to be used to worship the Daedric Prince Meridia. Jon was sitting on the stairway outside the building resting his head on his arms while hanging it down. He was clearly tired but that wasn't all.
He was not speaking.
"I can understand why the boy is not talking, my brain was about to buzz out by his speech just now but it was absolutely marvelous. Still, How do you people keep your sanity with all that Nord-like shouting?" Sir Cadwell was looking at Jon from afar.
"Don't ask me. Not anyone can do what he did as far as I know." Serana replied.
"Hm? I thought your hubby and you were open on these things. I am sorry, dear. Sometimes men have to keep some secrets from their lov…" Sir Cadwell started babbling.
"I am going to stop you there. There is nothing between me and Krilon." Serana said with an annoyed face.
"Really? But the way you looked at each other… I'd bet my pot that you two will fit quite nicely together with all the mad shouting and the vampire transformation thing you guys do."
"..." Serana looked at Sir Cadwell with cold eyes and he stopped talking right away.
"By the way, why doesn't Mr. Krilon talk? Is he sad for his Dremora friend?" Mr. Skittles asked.
"Don't ask me. Maybe he is tired." Serana said.
"Hooman won't be able to talk for a while." Said a small child in a fancy black robe and black cat ears on her head.
"... And who might you be, young lass? This place is dangerous." Sir Cadwell crouched down for the girl.
"She is the cat." Serana replied, "Hey, why isn't he talking?"
"Hooman talked too much so he can't talk now." Nefertiti said.
"Talked too much? Is it like a side effect?"
"No, if he talks right now, you will get hurt. His voice is strong."
"Oh! I see, I understand now." Serana seemed to have picked up a clue.
"What is it?"
"It is the thing about the Magic he used, the Thu'um. People who practice the Thu'um can attain a certain level of power where their voices and their Thu'um are so close that they can't speak normally anymore. If they spoke, their voices would come out as strong as the Thu'um they shout. The ancient king Wulfharth was like that as he couldn't vow his oath after the moot when he became a king and had to sign the vows on a paper. But I can't believe Krilon attained that level of power in this age. He is so young." Serana said.
Sir Cadwell and Mr. Skittles seemed to have a faint idea of what Serana was talking about. The Nords shouting their enemies around was the normal image non-Nords have about Nords.
"He says that he has rested long enough." Nefertiti spoke what's on Jon's mind.
Jon seemed to be standing up and turned around to the chapel. In his hand, he had the [Black Star] which Xikil's soul was trapped in. Jon stored it away and took out his sword.
As he walked to the gate of the chapel, the other followed closely and waited for him until he pushed the gate open. The inside of the chapel was exceedingly dark, the cloud of gloom outside the Chapel seemed to be a leakage of what's inside it.
"Oh dear!" Sir Cadwell exclaimed.
"You know what that is?" Serana asked.
"It seems the light in this place was stolen." Sir Cadwell said. "These things only happen in the 'Lightless Oubliette', never thought I'd see it here."
"What are you talking about?"
"The Lightless Oubliette is the place where the servants of Lady Meridia are imprisoned. There are things out there called the 'Essence of Darkness' employed by Molag Bal to absorb any manner of Light energy and lock it away, add that to the Daedric Magic and it will be a hazardous area that mages would run away from. Nasty business as always." Sir Cadwell briefed.
"I can handle it." Nefertiti said.
Everyone looked at her with wide eyes.
"What? The Shadow World has those things too." She said and walked inside the Chapel on her own.
A few minutes later, the light started to gradually return to the inside of the Chapel as the gloom started to break off. Jon walked inside and found Nefertiti standing at the other end of the chapel, there seemed to be an altar with a medium sized chest.
"You should stand back." Nefertiti said to Serana and the latter remained outside the chapel.
Jon walked to the chest followed by Sir Cadwell and opened it. A strong pure white radiation came from the chest so Jon closed it immediately.
"Do you know how to restore Meridia's Beacons?" Nefertiti asked Sir Cadwell.
"Yes, it is really simple and easy. You just need to fit all the pieces together. A simple magic trick."
Jon nodded.
"Then please clear the place." Nefertiti said.
Sir Cadwell nodded and reluctantly left behind the Fragments of Meridia's light he had. Everyone left the old chapel leaving Jon and Nefertiti behind.
Jon and Nefertiti looked at each other.
'You are doing it?' She asked.
'Yes, I have only one shot. I don't care about the Daedra and I don't really bother about the Hollow City. But if they want my help, they have to accept it as it comes. Meridia has long abandoned this place and assembling her Beacons is fruitless. However…'
Jon put the chest on the ground and opened it for the shimmering light to take over the area. He waited until his eyes adapted and examined it again.
'... This will serve my purposes greatly.'
Jon took out the [Soul Sigil Stone], the [Ebony Alloy], [Kyne's Tears], the [Eldergleam Branch] and the [Elder Scroll of Sun].
'Do it.' Jon said and Nefertiti disappeared from her place going on an errand he sat for her.
***
Time passed and the ones outside were oblivious to what is going inside. Jon's plan was going smoothly.
He sat on the ground surrounded by some of the rarest of the rare materials. Fragments carrying a crazy supply of the pure energy of Life. a special Sigil Stone that contains the Essence of a 1000 soul, a Daedric Alloy made of the hardest metal around the world, sacred flowers with the purification powers of Kyne, a branch from the oldest living tree in the world and an Elder Scroll.
In Jon's book, those rare beauties were to be handled by absolute carefulness. He touched every piece of those things as if he was touching a virgin maiden waiting for him while covering her naked body with pure white sheets. In his eyes, each and every piece of those gave off that image.
It was as if he was back in his house surrounded by his girls in the middle of the heat.
Jon sighed and brushed the image away, he hasn't been with them since the day he got captured and finally he is this close to return home.
First, he took out one of Wulfur's furnaces from the [Cube] and started smelting the Ebony Alloy following Wulf's instructions.
Second, he put the sacred flowers in an alchemy device and started extracting their essence which came down like white crystal drops.
The third was the most crucial step, Jon took those pure drops of [Kyne's Tears] and prepared a basin filled with the most precious 'Alchemy Solvent' in the world. This solvent was prepared by Master Nurelion who left Summerset Isles with a few drops of it and managed to mass produce it with the help of the [White Phial]. As a co-owner of the [White Phial] artifact, Jon managed to swindle Master Nurelion for a big amount of that solvent. This solvent's name was [Lorkhan's Tears]. The Alchemy Solvents were actually purified waters which were graded as Natural, Clear, Pristine, Cleansed, Filtered and Purified Water, rarer than those are the [Cloud Mist], [Star Dew] and [Lorkhan's Tears].
[A/n: ESO alchemy system]
The mix of [Kyne's Tears] and [Lorkhan's Tears] was simply poetic. Jon could hear the sound of pure music coming out each time the water ripples, that was how pure it was. With every [Kyne's Tear] drop added to the mix, that water was getting purer and purer until Jon could feel his soul being stolen away by the miraculous mix. If one puts some rock from the roadside in that water, the rock may turn into silver and the water will never be stained.
With the last drop of [Kyne's Tears] falling in [Lorkhan's Tears] the mix reached a stage of purity never seen before in the world. [Kyne's Tears] may be a sacred flower but [Lorkhan's Tears] are only associated with Lorkhan because of how difficult it came to be and the elves were the ones who called it like that. It was akin to [Crocodile's Tears] or [Canary's Milk] as all things impossible to come by.
Now that Top-Grade solvent was outranked by another substance of higher purity. The water that was akin to the pure white crystal forcing Jon to call it the [Crystal Aether].
Jon now owns a small basin filled with that substance. He can only imagine what sort of chaos Master Nurelion will make when he sees this.
The Ironic thing was Kyne's and Lorkhan's association with this. Both Original Spirits were known as lovers and that was admitted by the Elves, Khajiit and Humans.
And the fourth step came, Jon took the [Eldergleam Branch], the [Soul Sigil Stone] and all the fragments of the [Light of Meridia] then dipped the mix in the [Crystal Aether].
He was not trying to do anything other than observing the beauty of how the [Crystal Aether] worked. Jon saw all the dirt, impurities and negativity in the three items being dissolved then eaten away.
Jon frowned for a bit. There was no muddiness in the [Crystal Aether] thus far and yet it seemed to be working just fine. He hesitantly took out a finger and dipped it in the water.
Jon didn't feel any wetness on his finger despite feeling the water, he took it out and felt it but there was no hint of water at all. This has transcended the physics itself!
Jon calmed down then dipped his whole hand and tried to take out some water with his palm but somehow the water slid very fast back into the basin.
Jon put his hand again and again but there was no point.
<The [Blessing of Molag Bal] was absorbed.>
'What the actual fuck? What kind of absurdity did I create this time?'
Even Jon was at his wit's end.
He could see the mix of [Kyne's Tears] and [Lorkhan's Tears] creating something absurd but it had to at least be a normal solvent that follows the normal laws of alchemy and physics… Not some sort of moody, anti-Daedra, super purification substance.
'Well, nothing was normal the last few days.' Jon dismissed the worries trying to convince himself that everything was just fine.
He sighed and looked at the [Ebony Alloy] that seemed to have been fully smelted now.
The fifth step started to take form, Jon took out the [Soul Sigil Stone] and started to examine it. The azure color was long gone by purification and the crystal orb was now carrying a strange appearance. It was either a white stone with black shade moving inside it or a black stone with white shade, Jon couldn't really tell. But the most important thing is that the Stone was already out of Molag Bal's influence too.
'Old Molly's gonna be pissed.' Jon laughed to himself and continued the work.
He took out the [Eldergleam Branch] that was also purified but not a lot of change was seen.
The [Light of Meridia] fragments has been through a change, instead of radiating strong pure white energy of light they now radiate a gentle and warm energy. Jon could tell that Meridia's power in those fragments was gone since a long time ago, the remaining influence was just some residual energy that should wane out in another 1000 years or so.
The main parts were now ready. Jon had a plan in mind to create a teleportation artifact that can rip through Oblivion but his plans have already changed. Another thing was in his mind.
Jon turned off the magical furnace that was smelting the [Ebony Alloy] and started controlling the liquid with [Telekinesis]. A lot of control was needed so Jon chugged on his best Magicka Regeneration Potion and exerted all his power to left up to the smelt metal. With the other hand, he took the [Eldergleam Branch] and stuck its end in the smelted Ebony.
A normal branch would burn right away but not an [Eldergleam Branch], Jon's power started shaping the metal around the end of the branch and then came to a halt. His [Telekinesis] was cast on the fragments of the [Light of Meridia] and they flew upwards to revolve around the [Eldergleam Branch] and the smelted [Ebony Alloy]. The alloy started to take form like a net of crossed threads and at every crossing, a fragment of the [Light of Meridia] was attached to the hot metal. With every inch on the long branch, the net of the [Ebony Alloy] and the crystal fragments took form and rose up to the top of the branch. The appearance was formed with the metal forming a handle at the neck of the branch and the head was left hollow and waiting for the final piece. Jon took the [Sigil Stone] of thousand souls and stuck it on top of the branch with the remaining smelt metal and crystal fragments making a crown-like finish over the Sigil Stone.
And a Staff took form.
Not like any, none like other. By cast Cold Ebony created by the Daedra of Coldharbour, by many fragments of the remnants of the Shimmering Light, by a branch of the eldest soul on Nirn, by a Sigil Stone containing a Thousand purified souls.
Jon caressed the head of the staff that would fit in his fist and smiled. Even though it was still burning hot, his blood was boiling hotter.
Jon took the staff and put it in the basin of [Crystal Aether], the pure water absorbed the heat and purified the Ebony around the staff.
Jon took his staff and held it for the first time. He held it close to his bosom as if the most beautiful girl in the world.
The head was an orb with a crown of crystal, the end was a sharp piercing tip of ebony, the energy network was made of crystal fragments protected by the power of the ebony and the core was in indestructible wood of the Eldergleam.
Jon couldn't tell what kind of Magic can this staff cast. After all, these materials were gathered to cast a 'Fate Magic' and the staff was not even enchanted yet.
There was simply no method available to enchant such a staff yet... until it arrived.
"Phew! Hooman, that took me a while!"
Nefertiti appeared from the Shadow World with some large stones with her. She positioned them in place of the altar in the chapel as Jon instructed earlier to her departure.
This was not some regular large stones, this was the old [Shrine of Kyne] which was abandoned south to the Shrouded Plain where [Kyne's Tears] grew.
'Good job.'
Jon praised her right away, he started storing everything he took out other than the staff he just made and the [Elder Scroll of Sun].
Jon's voice was still hyped from the shouting he made and he wouldn't waste the power in his voice. The elders said to strike the iron when it's hot.
Jon approached the [Shrine of Kyne] that took the central position in the chapel and placed the staff on the sacred rune stone on it. He then took the Elder Scroll and position it in front of him.
A few deep breaths later, Jon closed his eyes to not get blinded by the Effect of the Elder Scroll and held it from the two handles left and right then opened it. The inner parchment slid down and a gush of mystic energy came out. Jon could feel the realm around him reacting.
It seems that the Daedra finally noticed, there was no time. Jon used the voice and spoke not in the Dragon Tongue but in the common one yet the words came from him like a breath of storm. He was not reading the Scroll, he was speaking to it.
"Hold! Daedra of the foul plane! Sister Hawk, grant us your sacred breath to make this contract heard! Begone, Stone-Fire! By words with ones better than you, I break your Domain. May you never reach these grounds!" Jon sent out a strong energy wave around the Hollow City.
The gloomy sky above the Hollow City started to appear blue and clear as if a hole was torn heaven for the warm light to come down.
Jon was not yet done. Now that he fought off the Daedric influence, he had another thing to do.
He turned to the Staff and started speaking through the Scroll.
"In the name of Kyne, in the name of Shor, in the name of Atmora of Old. You are [Pride], you are the [Elder Staff], you are the [Staff of Magic Extremity], you are part of me." Jon spoke the words and threw out a number of [Heart Stones] then spoke the final word.
"GELAH!" (Enchant)