Black Books, Stones

"Nay, I can get us there faster!"

"What? Oh... Wai- AAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

Yuri lifted Neloth off of the ground with him and accelerated them both on a dime at tremendous speeds. As the echoes of their flight furthered, the locals tracked them until they let out breaths they didn't know they were holding.

"Tell me that was a dream..."

"Don't tell me Nords can just do things like that now? Should we block the outlanders out for good?"

"Must be a Breton, Nords aren't so magically adept or accepting like that."

Citizens did what they do best, returning to their daily lives and choosing to digest that scene a bit more slowly while looking at Bretons just a bit more sideways.

As Yuri was flying off to Tel Mithryn with Neloth who had passed out and was flailing like a sack of potatoes, the ground below, while not exactly familiar, was extremely reminiscent of game Solsteim. Red and spiky bushes, burning and zombie-like ash spawn, and giant insects roamed or occupied the sandy ground while the occasional jellyfish-like Netch bobbed on the water's surface. The distance to Tel Mithryn was a bit larger, but at his speed, he saw the Silt Strider floating by the river beside Tel Mithryn in no time.

'A Silt Strider... that giant flea look is disconcerting up close. I better get used to that before entering Apocrypha'

Yuri approached the grove of giant mushrooms used as their houses and watched as many people of all classes high and low of House Telvanni witness their master hang his arms and legs from midair like he was left to dry. He set down and Neloth crumpled into the sand before regaining consciousness and leap into the air before wiping himself off.

"What great speeds, Fellow Mage! I imagine you make long travels into effortless strolls. Varona!"

"Yes, Lord Neloth." A steward quickly approaches from the main steps of the largest mushroom to attend to him.

"Prepare tea for my honored guest and I, we shall be in my study."

"As you wish."

Neloth led Yuri through a path that looked like a winding log had been hollowed into the shape of a tunnel with stairs a small portion cut from the top to let the head out. They reached a door and through it, a levitation pad.

"How do you make these mushrooms?" Yuri liked the way fungi were approached in Skyrim both under and above ground, perhaps he should make a fungi forest in part of his realm.

"Telvanni secret. You must offer up knowledge of equal value for that, Mr. Nightingale."

"Oh? I've lost interest, I'll make my own mushrooms. Bigger and better ones."

"My mushroom cannot be beaten so easily."

"Oh, I've got a pretty giant one to base mine off of..."

"Well I'd like to see this giant mushroom of yours if you are so proud!"

"I'm afraid that's privileged information."

"Well so are my mushrooms! Passed down from House Telvanni for generations!"

"That's how they all work, yes."

They stepped on the levitation pad and floated upward to the platform where the apex of their momentum ended precisely. Yuri saw that there were enchanted 'sensors' involved even if they were called something more old-timey here.

It seemed they landed in some kind of foyer, Verona rose behind them and took to an adjacent kitchen while the pair went through a corridor and found a generously sized test room. Much more space was being used for bookshelves, work tables for regular enchanting and alchemy, as well as an enclosed and clear testing room that seemed like it was ready to suffer a few blasts. Neloth, to Yuri's appreciation, seemed painfully neat and kept a good standard of tidiness. Or perhaps that was his steward.

But he was more focused on the one area that he recognized. A room beyond a randomly weaved wooden cage that held a Staff Enchanter and a Black Book.

A boyish-looking Dunmer came out of the practice room caked in ash while coughing something up.

"Please do not mind the boy, Mr. Nightingale. He is my talentless apprentice."

Yuri gave him a single glance and nothing more before returning to his previous topic.

"Any chance you're willing to part with that?" Yuri directed his nose to the Staff Enchanting room.

"My staff enchanter?! Like hell I am! It took me years to make-"

"Not the enchanter. The Black Book."

"Oh... keeping those things around can be dangerous and I've already made a copy. I'm willing to let it go... for a trade!"

"You and your trades again."

"Deciphering part of that book gave me details of quite the skillset, I imagine you have something to trade if your earlier actions were an example?"

Yuri smirked and flicked his wrist. This Tome was a copy as well, though much more valuable than many others would realize. Bound in a green hardcover and chaotic vine-like threading along the spine with the Tree of Yggdrasil on the front, the book's golden lettering caught his eye and instilled a rabid sense of familiarity.

"What on Nirn is this?"

"Ancient Mer-ish text. It's up to you how you use it, otherwise if you lack the creativity or skill this book will do little to help you." In truth, it was just Elvish.

Neloth tried opening the cover to read the preface, but his fingers were caught in it when Yuri's hand slapped the cover shut.

"Deal, or no deal?"

"Fine, you may have the key when Verona brings it-"

Yuri waved his right hand and the wooden cage unraveled like it was waiting to be pene-*cough*-opened. Another wave and The Hidden Twilight came out from atop the Staff Enchanter and flapped to Yuri's hand like a bird before resting its spine in his palm. He put it in his inventory before conducting a security check.

'System, how will reading this book affect me?'

[...You will learn its contents...]

'...Will it take any part of me away from my current position?'

[Champion of Akasha prevents the realm it is tied to from perceiving you. To go to the realm it belongs to, you must find a way through the connection yourself or remove the Title. Though the latter is unadvised]

'I know that much. Alright, thank you'

Yuri saw that Neloth was already opening the book while his apprentice was looking over his shoulder, so Yuri followed suit and opened it. Neloth saw this out of his peripheral and harrumphed.

"Tell Herma Mora I said hello when you see him."

But he frowned and fully lifted his face when Yuri turned to the second page. He refused to believe it. Those books are traps, eventually, his mind will be taken and he will return as a husk or never return at all.

But as the pages continued to flip and break his attention from the book he was given, Yuri reached the end and closed it after a deep and content sigh before reaching to drink the Canis Root tea Verona had left for him.

"Impossible. You never even left for a moment!"

"It seems for all your diverse studies, you aren't very adept on matters of the Soul, Neloth?"

"What does your Soul have to do with that?"

"A Soul of great depth and relentless veracity will not be moved by anyone or anything. That ancient text is filled with some rather unscientific applications of magic, so prove I didn't just give a sword to a man who can't dance and start thinking outside the box."

Yuri was turning to sand as he spoke. Black sand, as if a certain purple titan had snapped his fingers, drifted off of Yuri's face and spread to the rest of his body and clothes. Yuri closed the book as he was dusting and put it back in his inventory before the process was completed and the dust swirled into the air and vanished as well.

"...I hope he left, because if he mastered that book already I'll never sleep peacefully again." Neloth looked around the room before telling his apprentice to sweep the floor and never speak of this.

Like Neloth suspected but couldn't prove, Yuri was still in the room with the teacup in hand. The Black Book, The Hidden Twilight, covered the topics of the Intent of Observation and Obfuscation. When someone observes something or someone, intent leaks out to the target of observation. This intent, like many, is indiscernible to the untrained or inexperienced. But whoever is knowledgeable of the Intent of Observation can understand when it is being used on them. The intent of obfuscation is the opposite, it is the intent to hide oneself from all observers. If one is knowledgeable of this intent, they can hide their intent of observation and themselves to an insane degree. Even better than max sneak archer degree.

If both the observer and the observed are knowledgeable about both Intents? The most skilled of the two will succeed, obviously. Just like Yuri hid in the same room as Neloth who read a copy of the same book without Shrouding himself, the Akashic Assimilator was the more skillful.

Yuri vanished with the stolen teacup and went to his next targets, the Sun, Beast, Tree, Wind, and Water Stones. The girls had just met up with that thick Skaal chick and were cuttin' up some sheeple, so he had some time before they got Waking Dreams and diverged once more.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Toni and Ally met the Swedish-looking warrior maiden trying to awaken her people at the top of an atrocious temple shaped like a gothic crown of thorns. Murmurs of cryptic fates bled into the air in unison but were interrupted by an urgent woman attempting to wake them up.

Frea took notice of the normal-looking women among the brainwashed and put up her guard.

"Who are you?! Are you a part of this madness?!"

"I could ask the same of you, Miss?" Toni shot back with an amused brow.

"Don't play games with me! Why are you here?!"

"We're looking for a man named Miraak. I don't assume you know who that is?" Ally interjected.

"...My father believes Miraak is the one who curses our land and abducts our people. It appears we have the same target, forgive me. My name is Frea, I seek to either free my people who have lost themselves in this place, or avenge them!" She believed with naivety and spat with conviction.

"Toni, Charmed."

"Ally, let's hope we can find what we're looking for!"

Toni led the way down a spiraling ramp in the center of the Temple, and they ran into more ordinary cultists along the way. Frea drew her axes for nothing, as Toni and Ally carved and shouted their way through with practiced ease. She had never seen women who were stronger than her, but there was a first for everything and the villager would see many that day.

Toni bounced off of walls and vanished at her leisure to ambush cultists unaware, Arch Cultists who launched powerful attack magic would find their spells drowned in shouts that crushed the enemies and bent the stone walls outward, Light and Shadow spewed from the hands and mouths of the lady pair and Frea's worldview had been tossed in the ocean.

"Where are you people from?"

""Skyrim""

"Has the mainland truly gone so far?"

"Mainland?"

"Well, legend tells us that one of our wisest rulers named Vahlok once fought Miraak and the destruction shifted Solsteim from Skyrim and it became an island. I'm not sure how much I believe, but we Skaal call Skyrim the mainland now anyway."

Further they delved into the Temple, finding it trapped to hell. Swinging logs hanged obviously above step-plates and wire-trips while poison darts and saw blades hid in the walls waiting to pop out. Ally punched the logs back and broke them into splinters while Toni spotted the triggers and helped the crew avoid them. Rooms with cages of burnt or tortured corpses made Frea sick and Ally angry while Toni made them continue.

On their journey down, the Cultists joined forces with the Draugr and the more Nordic Crypt side of the temple was revealed in a strange pattern of being jointed with Cultist barracks. Every door they opened with a lever revealed more of the bastards, and sometimes entire chambers would give way to other projects with mindless drones operating under the thumbs of the slave drivers. Statues of Dragons matched the old Nordic ruins and statues of some multi-eyed and crab-like monsters seemed like newer additions.

"That is the Adversary, Herma Mora himself. Perhaps this Miraak has joined hands with the Skaal's most hated foe."

"Hermaeus Mora?"

"Is that what you call him?"

"I'm sure Yuri would call him Hermy..." Ally jested, while Toni nodded her head wisely.

"Yuri?"

"Our lover," Toni introduced while smiling ruefully at Ally, who nodded with a healthy glow and some optimism. "And the one who told us about Miraak's involvement."

The carve continued, and Frea was thoroughly surprised by their ability to cleanse all the blood they had spilled on themselves with a simple spell. Arch Cultists started forming groups in the final stretches and the trio was actually somewhat challenged for once due to the slight exhaustion. Ultimately, Frea had to hide behind Ally and her shield while Toni struck them from the shadows to divide them, which Ally capitalized on. Her every word was starting to become as volatile as the Tongues of old should she choose to apply it, so her shouts devastated entire groups of them once she got a word in.

Spiral staircases of wood led to a series of rooms that each had a hidden door revealed by a hidden lever. One more shifting stone staircase behind a fireplace led to a hallway that was dotted by braziers that looked like open-mouthed flycatchers. The area changed from a stone ruin to something out of a H.P. Lovecraft novel and finally, a wide and circular room gave a wide birth to a warped and twisted totem of tentacles, eyes, pincers, and teeth all black as night. On a lectern jutting from this totem, a book they were warned of rested.

"So this is a Black Book." Toni hefted its weight with both hands, finding it denser and heavier than she was prepared for a book to be, especially for someone who would hardly notice 20 lbs of force.

"Yuri said not to open it. It was the first time I've seen him so serious." Ally added.

"He cares about us, and we have no idea what is on the other side."

"This man must be very lucky to have earned your trust and love this much..." Frea commented.

"Indeed, I am"