Chapter 396 - Aftermath
Opening his eyes to the bright light coming through the clouds, Jon rose to sit up. He was surrounded by three beautiful girls who seemed to have fallen into a deep slumber after last night's experience.
A day has passed since the Battle of Winterhold and Jon has officially told everyone to screw off before heading home to his house with Aela and Alina then he picked up Jullanar and teleported to a nameless snowy island not far in the Sea of Ghosts then he released all of his divine power on that island rending himself back to mortality and returning to his natural self.
The state of immortality he was in was dangerous and couldn't be maintained as he was borrowing an immense power from a large number of Heart Stones using the [Tool of Kagrenac]. If things went wrong, his body would have been disintegrated from the massive power he held.
After all, one Heart Stone can fully resurrect a Mortal if all the dangerous side effects were overlooked.
Also, becoming a 'Demi-Ada' was too much for a mortal like Jon to handle. By all means, he wasn't ready or even strong enough.
To gloss over the boring details of how the process happened, one must know that the [Original Spirits] (et'Ada) are those of the [Ada] race who possess divine powers. [Demi-Ada] are also immortals and divine but far less powerful than a regular Ada or an almighty et'Ada (Original Spirit).
Still, just like the normal Ada, a Demi-Ada is possible to emerge by performing one of the [Six Walking Ways] not fully as the Ada can't exist physically in Mundus.
The Six Walking Ways are The Prolix Towers, the Psijic Endeavor, the Song Rewriting, The Mantelling, CHIM and Transforming the Scarab into a New Man.
-The Prolix Towers are those towers that define the reality of the Mundus which were used by their builders to utilize the powers of the Aurbis and Mimic the One True Tower. Known Towers are the White-Gold, Green-Sap, Snow-Throat, Red-Mountain, Walk-Brass, Crystal-like-Law, Orichalc and Ada-Mantia.
-The Psijic Endeavor is the way of Saint Veloth who showed the Chimer how to ascend to immortality by the help of Boethiah and Mephala who denied the falsehoods that the Elven Ancestor Champion, Trinimac, said about Lorkhan. The Psijic Endeavor is to process of apotheosis by manipulating time itself. The goal of the Endeavor is to experience CHIM, and the two concepts are closely related.
-The Song Rewriting is the process of rewriting reality by the Tonal Manipulation which happened with the case of the Dwemer when Lord Kagrenac tried to activate the Numidium and ended up wiping out his race.
-The Mantelling is the way of the dead which is to follow the steps of a certain Ada to the point of completely mimicking the Ada and becoming him/her. The same way Talos mantled Lorkhan by leading his armies to fight the elves, and how the Hero of Kvatch mantled Sheogorath.
-The CHIM is one of the ultimate goals of apotheosis and by its literal meaning is (Royalty). It is a state of being which allows for escaping from all known laws and limitations and reaching some sort of realization about the nature of the universe and one's place in it, leading to a simultaneous comprehension of the full scope of existence as well as one's own individuality.
-The Scarab that Transforms into the New Man is an obscure term but the 'New Man' means a new dreamer may mean the possibility of a birth of a new world all-together through ascending beyond the Godhead and becoming an [Amaranth].
These were the secrets that were opened up to Jon through his 10 minutes experience a state of divinity.
So which way did Jon use to reach that state?
Jon's inner self was in a state of conflict about it. He is an avid fan of the Psijic Endeavor and his meditation is being refined based on the ancient texts he found about the endeavor and that's how he absorbed the powers of the Heart Stones. He also used the Tonal Artifacts which are the [Tools of Kagrenac] to manipulate the energy and absorb it.
He never reached the CHIM and kept himself away from the Tower not even willing to check it out ever again.
By that, he could conclude relying only on one way is not enough to reach the true level of an immortal Ada.
"Well, at least I've done put my all to it." Jon smiled as he looked at the place around him with content feeling.
This island he was in is supposed to be some snowy place in the sea of ghosts but for some reason, it was now some sort of summer rainforest jungle.
Jon loved the atmosphere which seemed to be giving him life and recharging his energy just by being in this beautiful place. He put his hand on a tree and branch lowered itself for Jon to hang on it and go up the level of the trees.
The view from above was to a large landscape of an island covered with all sorts of tropical greenery and beaches of white sand and crystal blue waters. All of that was veiled by a cloud of mist isolating the tropical island and its beach from the cold outside of the Sea of Ghosts.
This was Jon's Domain which he used up all the excessive Divine Aurbic power he had to create. The power to shape the world.
In the center of the island, there was a clearing of a large patch of green land surrounding a single pavilion in the center of a lake. The pavilion was made wooden pillars and a circular stone roof that seemed a bit stylish for the crude Nordic Architecture as in truth, Jon shamelessly used the Elven Architecture with this pavilion which would suit the summer atmosphere in the area.
He smiled with pride at his work and jumped down the tree. The sudden noise made the three sleeping beauties wake up, Jon simply walked to them and picked Jullanar up in his arms.
"What's up, princess?"
"... What's up… my body is barely keeping up with you." She surrendered herself to him as they engrossed themselves in a kiss.
"Hey, kiss me too."
"And me too."
Aela and Alina jumped on Jon to join the fray. He laughed because of their action and held them all with his hands.
"Last night didn't put the three of you down? Seems like you three weren't wasting time on training while I was gone."
The four kept playing and having fun until they reached the clearing where the pavilion stood. Jon carried both Aela and Jullanar as he walked on water by magic and Alina followed him with the same spell until they reached the pavilion.
"There is a mass of work waiting for us in Winterhold. You sure left them with one mess on their own." Alina said as they reached the pavilion.
Jon put down the girls and let out a sigh.
"I just don't want to go to Winterhold any time soon. Wulfur and the boys can deal with the aftermath on their own." Jon said.
"There is no leeway out of this one, you are the Boss and there are things only you can do." Aela said.
"Don't forget that you almost let the King Torygg and Jarl Ulfric share a room." Jullanar pointed out something really weird.
Jon looked away immediately.
"And how in the blazes should I deal with two VIP coming to Winterhold at the same time without further notice? We only have one VIP guest house so they've got to share."
"Kyne's mercy. Let's go home." Alina swore and placed her hand on a central pedestal in on the pavilion.
The space behind the pedestal twisted and the space opened up a portal leading to Winterhold.
***
Winterhold and Saarthal were calmer than what was anticipated. Crowded by the sudden arrival of many Moonblades and Firemanes, the cities were even more cramped up with the unforeseen reinforcements from Windhelm and Solitude.
Busy with licking their own wounds, the Dare Troopers had a hard time putting down brawls between the Soldiers of Windhelm and Solitude nearly around every corner. One can imagine how the political scene was from just the state of the common soldiers.
In Winterhold below Jon's manor, the space twisted and a portal opened with four figures walking out of it.
"It is cold here, I really feel so damn tired every time it is cold like this." Jon complained.
"And you call yourself a Nord?" Aela said.
"I just function much better in a warmer climate."
"... I guess we all can agree to that." Jullanar said
"I like that thought, keep it up." Jon rubbed her hair jokingly.
The four walked out of the basement to the first floor of the manor to meet many anxious faces looking at Jon all at once.
"What's wrong?" Jon asked.
These people were mostly the employees of the company.
"Boss! Here you are at long last, the place is a hot mess." Sev the secretary said.
"Oh! Good, I hope your workload is not overpiling."
"It is, Boss. And you have too many requests for appointments. They only way to solve them is to put appointments within other appointments within more appointments."
"Now that's scary."
Jon started thinking but no idea came to mind.
"Fine, I'll deal with them all. Who's on top of the list?"
"The High King… damn, never thought I would ever say that."
"Focus, Sev."
"Yes, Boss. The High King and his men, Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl Korir, miss Vittoria Vici, the Imperial Commander from Fort Kastav and a Wizard from the Imperial Synod. There are also many social visits."
"Be a good girl and put it all in one meeting." Jon said.
"Excuse me!"
"Just tell Jarl Korir to make one big meeting, I am expecting to have one big mess. Also, the social visits are only family so leave it to the night and make the boys and girls clean the place here and kick some family party. I want to drink and pass out with everyone tonight."
"... Yes, boss." Sev became gloomy as she realized the amount of work waiting for her.
"Good luck, Sev. You'll need it." Aela said as she went away.
"You are the secret paperwork wife, Sev. No one will ever replace you." Jullanar said and disappeared.
"I approve and recognize your efforts, Sev." Alina said haughty and went inside.
"Well, that was mean." Jon patted the back of the crying Sev.
***
In the Longhouse of Jarl Korir, many political figures gathered around the long fireplace. Jarl Korir accepted Jon's request to invite every one of those figures to his place.
Jon was the latest to arrive accompanied by Tormund Firemane, Sigurd Moonblade and Alina.
The room became silent as everyone sat their eyes on Jon. He was wearing his regular mage that gave off his official rank as an Expert Mage. He wasn't carrying any sword or wearing any armor but the power of Jon Dare was well recognized among everyone in this room.
The mages around the room were the first to sense it as well as the experienced warriors like Jarl Ulfric. Jon wasn't the same as he was yesterday.
Not sure how they should think, Jon from the day of the battle was a powerful Demigod but this young man is not that tyrant of yesterday. Surely his Aura carried a strong pressure of Tyranny that was actually so strong compared to anyone else in the room but that was not what they expected.
Those with knowledge could tell it right away. The power of yesterday was unnatural and temporary and judging by Jon's look, he is in a very good state.
Maybe the godly power was temporary but with the [Tools of Kagrenac], which are known to be in Jon's possession by now, Jon may be able to switch that godly mode back on again which is not too far from the truth.
"It is rumored that when Almalexia fell from divinity by losing her Demigod powers, she went mad. Can Jonhild Firemane actually be able to ignore this effect?" A mage asked another in the corner.
"Don't ask me. There is more we don't know here but the situation is much better like this, we can pressure those Nords now."
The two mages were from Cyrodiil and traveled a long distance in one night after an emergency transmission came from the Imperial Embassy in Skyrim.
This was how fast the response of the Empire to the emergence of a Demigod is.
Ulfric Stormcloak was not far from the two mages and he glared at them with a killing intent causing them to look back at him with hostility. He walked towards them and passed from between them showing his dominance over weasels of their kind.
As he passed them, he walked straight to Jon.
"Here he is, Winterhold's Hero. It is good to finally meet you in person once again." Ulfric stood in front of Jon and offered a handshake.
Jon smiled and shook Ulfric's hand.
"Likewise, Jarl Ulfric."
Despite Ulfric distancing himself from Jon on a personal scale and Jon calling Ulfric as 'Big Bad Ulfric', the two seemed to have a great deal of respect to one another as well as plans for each other.
High King Torygg saw the scene from a distance and narrowed his eyes. Both men are heroic and domineering making him feel like the fool on the throne.
Yet he knew better.
There are the ones who would evade the storm and ones who would sail through it. Torygg would evade, Ulfric would sail through, but Jon… it is time for Jon to announce his stance today.
This meeting was the most important meeting before the future events. It is time for Jon Dare answer many things and to take a side.