4.30

I was on my last day within Skyrim, and it was finally time for me to get that Skeleton Key.

Since I had finished my search for the Word Walls slightly ahead of time, I did not take my time to reach Riften, but instead arrived as soon as possible, and started following Mercer Frey, the current holder of the Skeleton Key.

I was slightly surprised, however, upon arriving to not only find him, but also the Dragonborn, who had seemingly joined the Thieves Guild.

It didn't really matter much to me, but it was interesting to see he had taken this path.

I thought following him would be easy, since I didn't even need to be near him as I could use the Force to follow him, but he proved himself to be surprisingly annoying to follow as he used the Skeleton Key to teleport.

So I placed a sort of marker on him, which allowed me to know his position at all times.

And now, I had finally reached the 90th day in this world, and I was five minutes away from leaving.

Although it hadn't been my intention, I had made quite the splash as the Thalmor was now searching for me all over Skyrim, placing a rather large bounty on my head, while the Stormcloaks were also searching for me, although they wanted me to join them instead.

My reputation had also spread, as I had killed quite a few dragons by now, which was already impressive on its own, but I had also done it alone for almost all of them, which wasn't something that had been reciprocated yet.

So now, all that was left was the Skeleton Key, and that was the easiest part of my time in here.

As I reached five minutes from my time of departure, I suddenly sprung into action.

Bringing both of my arms down, I completely crushed Mercer's house, from ceiling to cave, before clutching my hands into fists, compressing all the debris.

I was about to continue, but I felt Mercer had already died with the first attack…

Well, I suppose fighting dragons and Draugr Death Overlords had raised my expectations for my enemies.

Ignoring the panicking city, I flew down from the sky and parted the remains of the house apart, revealing several bloodstains, which was all that was left of the mercenaries Mercer had hired to guard his house.

Mercer himself was in a slightly better state, perhaps because he had been wearing a better armor, as his corpse still retained somewhat of a humanoid shape.

Landing next to his corpse, I tried to open his left breast pocket, where I knew the key was, but found myself unable to open it.

Had he sealed it with the key? Interesting.

I tore the pocket away, finally revealing what I had come here from.

The Skeleton Key.

Maybe because of its nature as a Daedric Artefact, the Skeleton Key felt different from any other artefact, in the sense that it didn't feel like I was holding an inert object, but instead a living being.

My theory on that was that the reason was that Daedric Artefacts are mostly made of the essence of the Prince who made them, so it made sense for it to feel like a living being.

My heart beating with palpitation, I firmly grabbed the key, and visualized the shrine of Azura.

There was nothing in front of me, yet I miraculously felt a sort of resistance from the key as part of it disappeared, forming a keyhole-shaped hole in space itself.

Then, as I twisted the key, spacetime itself tore apart to form a portal.

I could feel chaos and darkness from the portal as I stood in front of it, yet I stepped forward with no hesitation.

The portal closing behind me, I felt the oxygen suddenly dwindle and a cold wind strike me as I suddenly found myself in front of a stunned Dark Elf.

She quickly regained her composure however as she spoke mysteriously, "Alexander, my mistress warned me of your arrival. I did not expect you would hold the Skeleton Key, however."

"Sure. Just one thing. Nocturnal and Azura are enemies, right?"

I had made my research before entering this world, and found that Nocturnal had four other godly beings she could call enemies: Ebonarm, the God of War, Meridia, Prince of Life, Light and shooting in your ears, Merhunes Dagon, the Prince of Darkness and Destruction, and Azura, God Patron of Dark Elves and Prince of Dawn and Dusk.

Ebonarm was more into peace than war, Meridia was a general pain in the ass, and Merhunes was next to impossible to reason with, so to aid me in my possible fight against Nocturnal, I chose Azura.

The Dark Elf Priestess of Azura quickly dashed my hopes, however, "My Lady was uncharacteristically clear in her visions when she told me about your arrival. Whatever you are about to do, you will find no aid in any of the Princes."

I felt a little disappointed, but I was already prepared for this. Actually, I was prepared for the worst case scenario, and that was Azura taking an interest in me and allying with Nocturnal, so this was better at least.

Twirling the Skeleton Key around my fingers, I asked, "So Azura knows what is going to happen. How come Nocturnal hasn't come to fight me yet then?"

She frowned, clearly displeased with my words, "No mortal can fight a Prince. Their either take pity on you, or erase you."

So she wasn't going to be of any help.

Well, since I can't get help, and the fight is probably going to destroy a thing or two, I might as well fight somewhere I want to destroy.

Inserting the key in space, I thought about the Summerset Isles, home of the Thalmor, but as I tried to turn the key I found it blocked.

Does that mean I can't teleport to places I haven't been to before?

Thinking for a moment, I went with my second experiment, and thought of the field of Tall Grass, where I had spent my first movie.

I expected the key to once again be stuck, but to my utmost surprise I managed to turn the key, and create the portal.

…so the key could be used to travel between different worlds. That's absurd.

I quickly closed the portal however, as entering it might be dangerous.

As far as I know, Daedric Princes are restrained in Mundus, the world in which Skyrim is, and cannot exert most of their powers, or the plot of the fourth game, Oblivion, would be a complete waste of time since it was all about Merhunes Dagon trying to invade.

But that restriction might not apply to all words, and I wasn't ready to face a real God for now, so I closed the portal, and instead went for another place I wanted to destroy.

I appeared several dozen meters above the ground, and looking South East I saw the great city of Solitude, capital of Skyrim.

And under me, was the Thalmor's Embassy.

This is one place I don't mind destroying. Of course, I had no idea as to whether Nocturnal would even show up, since it was weird she hadn't yet, but I would rather be cautious than sorry.

And so, left with a few minutes in front of me, I placed the Skeleton Key against my forehead, and inserted it in.