Abyss (3)

An old office room, a desk with papers on it, a lightbulb, a locked cabinet with a bunch of books, an old model typewriter, Tarot cards and a big gramophone.

This image fits really perfectly with the wooden ground and the paintings on the wall but all of a sudden it became awfully disturbed by the appearance of a hooded and cloaked warrior in full black armor, a small girl in a black gothic dress with cat ears and a Minotaur in an Imperial soldier armor.

"Don't touch a single thing." Jon said.

Excited about what he just came across, Jon had that blaze in his eyes. He took out his gauntlets to not damage anything and carefully took a look around.

The place was abundant with Magicka as if some expert has stayed here for a long time. The leather chair was comfortable and cozy while the desk was neatly preserved with Magic.

Mannimarco has really taken care of this place.

Not sure where to start, Jon used [Eye of Magicka] once again and managed to find out the first detail about this room. A few fingerprints were left here around on the cabinet on the other side of the room Jon walked to it and tried to open it but it was sealed. The [Skeleton Key] came in handy once again and in there was a strange suitcase-like object, Jon took it out and studied it to find it a box camera, those old types of cameras with the shape of a box.

He found the tri-legged base this camera stands on and stationed it on the top with a screw. After that, he carefully figured out how it works and installed a few lenses on it. With that, he could finally set the focus and look through the lens.

With an excited look, Jon searched around the room by looking through the camera. Indeed as he thought, there was something different in the room, the sight seen through the camera showed certain glows and colorful stains around the room. Figuring a pattern out of that led Jon to a new finding.

Depending on where he stood in the room, worlds would appear based on how he looked at the patterns around.

Many patterns were entangled and Jon could see many letters but the only word that was read was "Kingdom".

"Shouldn't a fella like Mannimarco pick some scary ass words?" Jon wondered.

The only clue he has now was the word "Kingdom". Not sure what to do with that, Jon kept scanning the room normally until his eyes landed on the typewriter.

He sat in front of the typewriter, figured out how to mount a paper in and wrote "Kingdom".

He was simply trying without much hope of finding a clue but suddenly, the typewriter reacted and wrote on its own.

[Sun, Moon and Stars form one Heaven. As I looked up, I saw nothing but Doom for my mortal self. I ran back to my Sanctuary amidst space and time wishing I can halt this curse.]

"... What does any of this mean? Escaping Mortality? Mannimarco is a Lich King… well, he is now an Immortal CHIM."

Jon dismissed the puzzle understanding that it is one of Mannimarco's ramblings about himself when he was a mortal.

Still, it was a new clue. Jon scanned the place once again while reciting the puzzle until he saw the Tarot cards on the side of the desk.

There were a number of them but reading what the Typewriter wrote, Jon concluded it to three cards. Heaven, Doom and Sanctuary.

Holding the cards together in one hand caused a sudden flash in the room. The cards returned to where they were and everything became silent.

"What was that?" Jax freaked out.

"Do not move or touch anything? You may activate a trap."

"Yes."

Looking around, Jon used the camera once again to see through the room.

Indeed some patterns disappeared and a new word emerged.

"Of."

Jon repeated the same with the Typewriter and got another puzzle. It wasn't simple this time as some cards were hidden across the room.

Jon abused the [Skeleton Key] to get to the hidden cards and kept advancing the puzzles one by one until he got four words. "Kingdom" "Of" "The" "Sun".

As he looked for the fifth, he found the patterns leading to a certain place where some gramophone records were being kept. The language on them was foreign to him but he managed to get the record he wanted by guessing from the pictures on the covers.

"Kingdom of the Sun! Strong name."

Jon took the record to the gramophone, mounted it then let it play.

National anthem-like music was played from the gramophone. Jax and Nefertiti made a fuss about the object but Jon shut them up and kept listening. As the song went on, it came to a place where it stopped, Jon scanned the gramophone to find a strange object that came out of nowhere blocking the record from playing.

Taking it out, he recognized it as a lens for the camera.

This was a new clue indeed. From it, he mounted the lens on the camera and looked around with.

There, he saw a strange object in the room. A pattern but it was floating rather than being painted on the wall.

Jon looked at it from different angles until he found the perfect view of the pattern.

"Fucking hell, it just… good grief."

Realizing that he was lost in solving the puzzle, Jon's head returned back from the excitement and faced reality. That pattern was the symbol of the Worm Cult.

From there, the Box Camera reacted to the pattern and from it, a red ray of light was shot.

"Woah!"

Jon made sure to stay clear from that. The ray of light hit the wall behind the pattern and all of a sudden, a door formed.

"Not weird at all."

The other two realized that they finally are going to leave this strange place, they followed Jon as he opened the door and…

"Come on!" Jon said in frustration.

In front of him was no hallway or magic portal or anything familiar. Just a view to a cloudy bleak sky.

"Hooman, look down."

Jon followed where Nefertiti was pointing and an amazed look appeared on his face. He looked out through the door hung in the sky only to find it a door hung in a long tower made of black stone. To add more to the fun, the space downstairs was akin to a ruined city.

(A realm dragged into the Sea of Chaos. Now that's something to behold.)

"In Nordic please!"

(Nothing to concern yourself with. Think of it as a realm of Oblivion.)

"Whatever! Nefertiti, is Azura's Soul Scent nearby?"

"Down there." She pointed.

Jon nodded and levitated down using the Boots of the Apostle through the long tower until he reached the ground undetected. Through the short trip, he noticed many strange undead all over the place. They were mostly shambles and zombies, nothing Necromancers would really use unless to keep their premium troops saved up.

Jon reached the ground and found some ruined walls to take as cover. He then teleported Nefertiti and Jax near him.

"Listen you two. We may have infiltrated without anyone noticing but as soon as we run into those undead roaming around. Someone or Something will come for sure. We are in their inner sanctum now." He said.

"Hooman, you are so demanding…"

"Lots of fish."

"... But it's okay."

"Good. You can blend in the shadows and recon the area. Meet me back here in 2 minutes." He said and Nefertiti didn't disagree.

"Jax."

"Yes, Chief… Boss."

"How come you are not asking questions all this time during the journey?" Jon asked.

"When I was at the Arena. Some human told me that Hammerfell is a very confusing place… I guess it is all expected." Jax said.

"..." "..."

Jon and Nefertiti had the same look on their faces as the Minotaur said so.

'Hooman, this Minotaur still thinks he is in Hammerfell.' Nefertiti said via Telepathy.

'Let's keep it that way.' Jon replied.

"Yes, indeed… Hammerfell is truly mysterious. Listen, I know Minotaurs have a great sense of direction but I want you to stay here and not make a sound. You are too large to sneak around."

"Yes."

Jon sighed in relief. If this Minotaur found out he is not in his world anymore, things will get ridiculous.

Nefertiti slid into the shadows and Jon covered himself in [Greed] and ventured the other way.

If someone had to ask him how this place looked like, he would say it looks like the Soul Cairn except for the overall theme color being dusty grey instead of gloomy blue.

All in all, it was a wasteland, broken ruins and undead.

Jon didn't detect anything worth detecting in his area of the search so he switched to reading the Law of Space in this place. It wasn't much different from the normal Space in this Rift between Worlds but Jon noticed a lot of movement, it seemed this place was connected to Mundus through a series of Conjuration spells.

Someone is crafty enough to Conjure Undead from this realm.

Only one answer came to mind.

"The Worm Cult."

Unlike the Soul Cairn which is a place hard to reach for ordinary Necromancers, other Necromancers tend to contact certain Realms of Oblivion that house Undead. The reason why this method was inferior to contacting the Soul Cairn was because of the quality of the Undead being greatly different from the Undead that are being maintained by the incredible beings known as the Ideal Masters who rule over the Soul Cairn.

The Ideal Masters create high-quality Undead which are the Boneman, Mistman and the Wraithman to aid Necromancers with. Sometimes, the Ideal Masters ask for Black Souls in exchange for more Undead.

Someone with Jon's ability is pretty much able to summon a large number, which is over 300, by the brute force of his Magicka but if he made a deal with the Ideal Masters, he may multiply this number by three folds gaining the ability to Conjure a thousand undead on his own.

The problem with making deals with the Ideal Masters is because of how it ends. Those who make such dumb deals always end up swallowed by the Ideal Masters in the end. Even their name rhymes with Innocent Insurance Company or Kind Loan Sharks.

For that reason, Necromancers tend to find special realms with a good quality of Undead. Capable Necromancers can even isolate a small pocket realm and fill it with Undead from all across Oblivion.

Jon suspected this realm to be the case and he was right on the mark.

'Hooman, you may need to see this.'

Hearing Nefertiti's voice in his head, Jon returned as fast as he could to the meeting spot.

"What is it?"

Nefertiti led him to a large place that seemed like a ruined city. In there, Jon could feel a ton of presences.

Life signals, Undeath Signals, Daedric Signals… there was a strange festival going behind the walls of that city.

But the most curious thing Jon felt was the familiar sensation of Azura's presence. It was clear where to go now.

Jon, Nefertiti and Jax blended in the surroundings and found a good place to approach the ruined city from. As they had a good view, they saw large banners for the Worm Cult all over the place.

"I see. The question is… why would the Worm Cult travel to the edge of the world to establish a realm of Necromancy?" Jon murmured.

(Two reasons.) Shadow popped up again.

"I am listening."

(One is to stay clear from the Daedric Princes. Mannimarco may be an Immortal CHIM but he is no match for a real Daedra and his cult's reserve of Undead will be too vulnerable to remain in his own realm.).

"And the second reason?"

(It may be highly unlikely but if Jon contacted humans from other universes and made them his followers… he will escape the Aurbis itself. Being a deity worshipping across other universes means you can simply walk freely between the two and have vast power.)

"Well… that's a problem."

(Not really. It is possible in theory but no one bothered doing it. Just focus at the Labour at hand.)

Jon nodded and returned to stealth. This time he has to go through the secret metropolis of the Worm Cult.

~~~~~~~~~~

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