The Return
I was three standing in front of my sleeping beauty in her chamber. Jull was nursing her and Nefertiti was guarding them. It is no wonder now that Alina was tricked to go to the Tower of Dawn by an envious bitch from her clan. I understood everything once Nefertiti reported that she noticed the same evil sensation she could feel from Quagmire on that bitch.
To explain what happened from the start, we should go back to three days ago when we left Quagmire.
What we experienced was beyond sense or belief!
After Vaermina let us go from her realm, I remember waking up in the inner sanctum of the Tower of Dawn and no one was there waiting for us. All I could find was Alina, Jull, Wulf and Nefertiti lying on the ground around me.
The next thing I found was the cursed staff, the Skull of Corruption, floating not far away from me. It was emitting an aura as if it was communing with me... calling for me to approach and claim it, reluctantly I took it and covered it with an old piece of linen cloth.
After that, I tried to wake up Alina and the rest but they were all fatigued. They were hungry and their power was fading.
I couldn't understand why but I started to heal them right away, still, only Nefertiti showed signs of responding and woke up.
"Hooman... hungry!"
That's what she said. From that alone, I understand what is going on and why no one came for us.
We have been gone for more than what I expected.
It all made sense now. We were inside the realm of Vaermina, the law of time around an Original Spirit must be ruled only by them. It seemed that Sigurd was taken away by his clansmen.
That time I transferred a lot Magicka into the four companions of mine until I almost exhausted myself, their conditions got stabilized. After that, I cut a piece of my robe and covered Alina's eyes with it, the wounds around her eyes were not normal but it will be her power that will she need to deal with such wounds.
From the point onward, I conjured a few Flame Atronach Horses and put everyone on them taking the way out of the cursed place.
The way to the Moonblade Clan was not easy. A snowstorm insisted that we should stay the first night in a cave leaving me awake all night to fend against the attacks of the hungry packs of wolves. Nefertiti fully woke up in the next day followed by Wulfur and Jullanar. Alina was the most exhausted one so she didn't wake up and made me more worried.
That day we ate grilled wolf meat which tasted so terrible but even I was hungry.
At the end of the second day, we reached the mountain range where the Moonblade Fort was located and walked the hard way up the storm was still blowing hard.
The first thing that we encountered was a large gate blocking the road, it was the checkpoint where the Moonblade forces had on the mountain road. After trying to call for anyone beyond it, we discovered that it was abandoned probably due to the storm, bypassing it with 'Teleportation was the only option but I had to use 'Eye of the Mind' to see past the gate and teleport through it.
I was using magic to solve every problem that we ran into for the past few days to the point of exhaustion. Even though everyone except Alina was up, they were still weakened greatly, even I had to supply Alina with my Magicka to warm her from the inside.
Beyond that gate was a straight road to the Moonblade Fort. Who welcomed us was a small force dispatched to deal with the intruders that got detected going through the gate, on the lead of that force was a girl called Elsa Moonblade, the culprit that I yet to know was behind all this mess. Once that girl's eyes landed on Alina, who was laying on a Flame Atronach Horse, I could see shock and clear killing intent towards Alina from that girl. Before I could even react, Nefertiti transformed to Beast Mode and jumped towards Elsa baring her fangs and brandishing her claws. This would be a clear aggression towards the Moonblade so I hastily pulled the oversized cat from her tail.
What amazed me that time was Nefertiti's actions, she sensed all kinds of killing intents before and didn't even react like this. I had to apologize for her actions saying that she was on alert all night.
The girl who was leading the group almost wanted to seize Alina and kick us out but I wouldn't let her so much lay a finger on Alina. My words were clear back then, lead us inside or stay out of our way, either way, we are going forward.
I didn't expect the skin of that girl to be so thick but all the clansmen behind her cleared the way and reluctantly she did so.
From the behavior of Nefertiti, I knew that this girl is troublesome for Alina to be kept alive but I later found out that she was behind the whole mess.
Once Sigurd met us, he almost fainted when he saw Alina. My reunion with Jonrad wasn't as warm but Alina's state was bad. I stopped him from removing the blindfold on Alina's eyes. I could only convince him that Alina overused her eye powers to fight off the nightmarish realm she was trapped in and she is just resting.
I can't let him what has become of Alina's eyes, nothing good will come from that at all.
The good thing about Sigurd was that he trusted my words in the end as we had already trust each other as we knew that the both of us want the best for Alina.
And now we arrived at the point where I sat down in Alina's room looking at her sleeping in a weakened state and Jull was beside her. They both looked so weak and pale after going through that nightmarish realm.
I didn't know what to do to wake her up but I knew that she needs time to be able to wake up. I can't allow anyone else to see what happened to her eyes, this situation is far from over and needs to be contained.
The next day, Alina showed signs of getting healthier and Jull also took a fair share of rest. Wulfur, on the other hand, fell to fever and I went to nurse him for the day. Nefertiti, who regained her health faster than anyone, reported that she sensed some weird movements around Alina's chambers last night.
I didn't want to leave anything for the chance as I knew who was moving suspiciously. It was that girl Elsa and her ugly little sister.
To chew the flies away, I went directly to meet with Sigurd, who regained his youthful shape, and talked to him face to face while most of the elders were present.
"I want that girl Elsa locked away." This was what I said in front of everyone just like that.
"Preposterous!"
"Jon Dare, we realize that you are an ally but don't take it too far. Elsa is one of the Moonblade's finest daughters."
"Exactly! She is to be wed to Zend Firemane and her sister Kaja is to be wed to Ragnar Firemane. Who do you think you are to think you can talk shit about them?"
Some of the Moonblades were very displeased with my demands. The person in question herself was shocked by my direct demand and made a tranquil face once she got defended by her clansmen.
I ignored them and looked at Sigurd. He made a calm face and replied.
"What are your reasons?"
"First, she is the main suspect of conspiring to send Alina and my friends into a danger zone. Second, she showed a very disrespectful attitude towards Alina on many occasions. Third, she delayed Alina's arrival yesterday and wanted to kick us, Alina's company, away from the gates of the mountain…"
I broke out Elsa's actions into detailed crimes that made her look worse and worse, still, every time I came up with something, voices of objection rose to debunk my accusations.
Still, Sigurd always signaled them to shut the fuck up.
And finally, I came to the last things I wanted to say.
"... Lastly, I don't want an unwanted presence roaming around the chambers of my fiancee."
No one said anything that time. These idiots just stared at me then looked at Sigurd with eyes wide open.
Sigurd face didn't change one bit. He was just sitting there indifferently while looking down at everything and everyone.
He then grinned.
"If my son-in-law wishes for it, then it shall be. Take that girl away to the Tower of Redemption!"
The voice they were waiting to speak out and teach me my place just shook the hall with these words. Two guards of the Moonblades moved towards Elsa and dragged her away in voices of plea and stares of shock.
This was just the start I tell you.
Wait until Alina wakes up… just wait!