O' Brother
A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️
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"Listener."
Astrid looked up at the giant man who walked out of the Night Mother's Coffin with eyes filled with anger, sadness, and regret.
"You know what is the best thing about atonement, Matron Astrid?" The man went down on one knee, placed his hand behind Astrid's head, and helped her lay down, "It is that as long as your heart is true, you will be freed of your sins."
"Thank you…" Astrid replied, feeling the piercing pain running through her stomach as she closed her tearful eyes.
The man lowered his head towards Astrid and she whispered words to his ears while barely able to keep alive with her grave burn wounds and the dagger piercing her.
The man hummed to her words in a deep, strong, and hollow voice. After she rallied her request to him, the man spoke.
"Rejoice, Astrid. For the name you passed upon this Listener shall be delivered. Your sins are forgiven and your honor is redeemed." He held the Blade of Woe and took it off her stomach causing the terrible pain to run through her body.
He then aimed the blade to her heart and stabbed in a steady fast motion.
Between the Listener's arms, Matron Astrid of the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary of Falkreath, the last standing sanctuary, has forfeited her life.
*THUD*
"Sleep child! May the Darkness of the Void keep you in its cold embrace." The Listener prayed.
"Listener! Dear Listener! Poor Cicero is wounded." Cicero squirmed on the ground behind Serana and attracted the room's attention.
"Will any of you tend to the wounds of your brother?" The Listener called the five assassins standing in front of him.
"I shall, Listener." Gabriella bowed and ran towards Cicero, forking out a small potion of her long sleeve, and pouring it on Cicero's wounds.
The Listener stood up and carried Astrid within his arms.
"Listener!" Nazir called, "The Sanctuary…"
*THUD*
With this one thud, a chunk of the wall almost collapsed over everyone's head but out of nowhere, a fleshy substance jumped out of the Listener's arm and expanded up like a pillar holding up the wall. It even started spreading all across the chamber and outside to the Main Hall supporting all the cracks and collapses in the Sanctuary.
Gluttony had such an ability called Blood Grove. It would actually turn into a Briarheart Tree and start attacking any hostile within close proximity.
"Looks like our Legionary Friends are eagerly demanding our attention. This hideout location is no longer safe." The Listener said.
"Listener. What should we do?" Babette said.
"I will protect you." The Listener said, "I will unseal the Black Door and we will leave."
The Listener handed Astrid's body to Nazir and moved towards the Night Mother's Coffin. He respectfully closed the Coffin, held his cloak by the shoulder, then threw it off his body to cover the entire Coffin.
Suddenly, the entire Coffin seemed to have been swallowed somewhere and disappeared.
What appeared from beneath the Cloak with a man with eyes that are totally black like the Void and his bare upper half was covered in all sorts of Nordic Tattoos.
He was wearing a great armored belt and wide pants with vambraces around his arms and armored boots.
He was akin to a dark warmongering warrior.
In his left hand, he carried the Blade of Woe but on his right, a Blade of Light formed.
The Blade of Light was akin to the most holy item in the world, it made both Babette and Serana feel uncomfortable in its presence.
This was Dawnbreaker.
But in the next instant, the Listener's cloak, that just took the Night Mother's Coffin away, jumped off the ground and wrapped itself around the blade as if consuming one another.
What was left was a product of utter and supreme Darkness. It made not only the undead in the room, but even the living feel uncomfortable.
All except Nefertiti who was strangely drawn to it.
This was Duskbringer, the corrupted form of Dawnbreaker.
[A/N: Lore Confirmed! It was once Dawnbreaker that got corrupted by the Daedra Nocturnal.]
The Listener was clearly not afraid of corrupting the holy item of Meridia knowing that he will suffer no consequences just like when he suffered on the hand of Azura when he corrupted Asura's Star. The reason for that is Greed's transformations are temporary and his stealth is perfect. All the Daedra would know is that their artifact was probably stored in a different dimension or something.
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[ Dawnbreaker > Duskbringer ] <Ebony Sword>
- Fire Damage for Living > Shadow Damage
- Sun Damage for Undead > Absorb Life
- Undead Burst on Death > Corpse Explosion on Death
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[ Blade of Woe ] <Daedric Ebony Dagger>
- Absorb Life
- Fear
- Impossible to Soul Trap
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The two weapons complimented one another greatly as weapons of mayhem and slaughter.
"With me!" Jon called and walked out of the room to the Main Hall. Over there, he saw the bodies of both Veezara and Arnbjorn.
"Collect the bodies of your brothers." He said.
The group, save for the wounded Cicero and Nazir who carried Astrid, started lifting up the two dead Assassins and waited for Jon to teleport them out of here.
But Jon didn't. He walked straight to the Black Door.
"Listener, this is…"
"There is no way out except through here." Jon said, "A Brotherhood Sanctuary is an isolated space. There is no way in or out unless the Night Mother allows. There is no magic that can pierce a space that is essentially a piece of the Void."
It seemed that the Assassins never knew the true nature of a Brotherhood Sanctuary but Jon was very willing to show them. He confidently walked ahead and arrived at the Black Door.
*THUD*
The Battering Ram outside the Black Door was furiously trying to tear down the Black Door. However, these doors were nigh-indestructible. The Sanctuary, however, was very fragile.
Jon put the tips of his fingers against the Black Door and closed his eyes waiting patiently. Half a minute passed and he immediately performed history's most powerful One-Inch Punch.
*TTHHUUDD*
The sound of his attack resonated with a Battering Ram strike coming from outside and strange enough, the Sanctuary didn't shake one bit.
And it was then…
{What is the Music of Life?}
The familiar ghostly voice coming from the Black Door sounded.
"Silence, my Brother."
{You are Worthy!}
Jon sneered and looked back to the shocked assassins behind him.
"Just a minute."
And he stepped outside alone.
***
No matter how skilled a fighter can be, no one imagined that he would face all of that on his own.
But the fighter that went out, returned back to the Sanctuary 10 minutes later, all soaked in blood and guts. The appearance of the maddened war deity that is this Listener made the assassins understand that they were under the protection of a great warrior, a powerhouse even.
Yet despite seeing his face, the man's identity remains a mystery.
"Take the bodies and start moving." The Listener said, "Take the way off the main road until you reach Lake Ilinalta. Serana, you lead the way, I'll guard the rear."
"Understood." Serana walked out first and saw the massacre Jon committed.
Around a hundred have died on his hands alone. The most notable among the group was the Head of the Emperor's Security in Skyrim, Commander Maro. The man whom Astrid leaked the assassination attempt to in order to get rid of the Listener.
Maro seemed to have double-crossed Astrid and laid a trap for her until he found out the location of the Sanctuary and the Password to it.
If Jon didn't disturb the Black Door and keep it from opening, the entire Dark Brotherhood would have been annihilated.
The rest of the assassins followed Serana out and they all had to take a minute to realize the amount of damage one man can cause against a hundred.
There were people missing parts of their bodies, people with twisted bone structures which left them in shapes only possible in one's imagination, people who were hit so badly they turned to actual mess of blood and gore, and the real lucky ones were thrown against rocks or impaled on tree branches.
As soon as the assassin left, Jon was all alone with Nefertiti by his side. He ended channeling the Chaos Infection through his Mystic Tattoos and summoned both Gluttony and Greed back to him.
"You, clean up the bodies." Jon ordered Gluttony then looked at Greed, "You… you have gotten more powerful but don't act high and mighty again. Go after the Assassins and help them out."
Greed reformed itself into its form of Greed Embodiment and turned to Sleipnir which started galloping towards the escaping assassins.
"Wonderful work, young Listener." The Spectral Assassin walked out through the sanctuary door to Jon, "Your purification was quite swift and you killed only the unloyal."
"Veezara and Arnbjorn wouldn't have survived without Astrid." Jon said, "One of my people has a grudge with Veezara so I took care of him and Arnbjorn was Astrid's husband so he wouldn't accept losing her. As for Festus and Gabriella, I hope Fate does them good."
In the game, those five characters die during the attack at the Dark Brotherhood Falkreath Sanctuary. Jon saw them both as good assets and so he decided to help them out.
But if Fate has other plans for them, Jon wasn't sure what to do anyway. He did all he could.
Right now, he secured the Listener's position in the Dark Brotherhood making this the only Game Faction questline that he interacts with so deeply. He is a member of both the Thieves Guild and the College of Winterhold and an honorary member of the Companions but he left those factions for Jullanar, Alina, and Wulfur respectfully.
He wanted to leave the Dark Brotherhood for someone else but due to the sensitive nature of the job, he needed to manipulate things on his own.
In the game, a player can choose whether to Join or Destroy the Dark Brotherhood. Jon chose the two choices since he was the one who used Serana as a Proxy Listener and sold information about the Brotherhood to the Penitus Oculatus and killed three assassins through Nefertiti.
"So, what now?" The Spectral Assassin asked, "You have chosen to lead the Brotherhood, and the Contract to kill the Emperor stands."
"I am planning to do it." Jon replied, "I just want to test out that thing you told me."
"Huhu! You really think you can do it?" The Spectral Assassin said.
"You're looking down on me, Lachance. Bad move." Jon replied and proceeded to the target of his latest discovery.
The Black Door!
Maybe, the greatest secret the Dark Brotherhood ever possessed.
It doesn't take an architectural genius to realize that every Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary was built in a location that makes it impossible to construct anything if not with the interference of a great force.
A lazy writer would pin it on Sithis but Jon has asked the Spectral Assassin, Lucien Lachance, a question and the answer he received intrigued him fully.
That's why Jon stood in front of that Black Door.
"What is the Music of Life?" The Black Door asked its usual question now that Jon's seal on it was lifted.
"Silence, O' Brother, for we are worthy of peace and quiet." Jon answered.
The answer was different and the Black Door had neither opened for him nor shut him out.
"Ask again." Jon said.
"What is life's Greatest Illusion?" The Black Door asked.
"Innocence, O' Brother, for we are worthy of self-entitlement to righteousness." Jon answered, "Ask again."
"What is the color of night?" The Door asked.
"Sanguine, O' Brother, for we are worthy of the beauty hailed from mother Kyne and father Shor." Jon answered, "Ask again."
"What is the Flavor of Fear?" The Door asked.
"Sublime, O' Brother, for we are worthy of Death and through its fear do we glorify the moment we elevate and see the tower." Jon answered, "Ask again."
"What is the Gift of Death?" The Door asked.
"Solace, O' Brother, for we are worthy of life but only those who are awake in the Dream know that we have been here once before." Jon answered.
At the fifth question, Jon didn't ask for more questions. The Black Door was fully active and its energy was stronger than ever.
Looking into it, Jon saw the Void and the Void saw Jon. They were not strangers to each other since Jon has walked it once as the Advocate of Sithis.
It was now Jon's turn to ask questions.
"What is Life of Music?" Jon asked, twisting the original question.
"Change, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Change whirls life and we muse in agony."
"What is the Fear of Flavor?" Jon asked, twisting the original question.
"Stasis, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Change came when we were all tasteless."
"What is the Night of Color?" Jon asked, twisting the original question.
"Chaos, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Chaos ends all as Night ends all days."
"What is the Death of Gifts?" Jon asked, twisting the original question.
"Order, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Chaos is where all gifts stem and Order is their end."
Jon nodded satisfied with the four answers before asking the fifth question.
"And what is the name of your Dread Father?" Jon asked.
"Sithis, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are unworthy… Sithis still travels in a phosphorescent mirror of the sky drowned and smiling intermittent hopes enough to answer all the things not yet queried."
"You lie!" Jon tilted his head with a threatening look on his face, "Say his true name!"
"SITHISIT, my Brother." The Black Door answered, "We are the Unworthy…"
"Yes." Jon nodded, "SI-THIS-IT. But you're still wrong for you misheard his true name statement. I'll tell you his first secret syllable, it is that of (IS) and your misfollowed father's true name becomes IS-THIS-IT." Jon stated and shouted, "FACE THR TERROR OF YOUR FOLLY!"
"WE ARE UNWORTHY…" To Jon's anger, the Black Door cried.
Jon spread his hands for Black Door and cracks started to form around its stone doorframe.
The cracks spread and the Black Door fell from its hinges on Jon's hands.
Behind the fallen Black Door, the entrance of the sanctuary was not there as if it didn't exist in the first place, for it was simply a rock wall. This meant that whatever Sanctuary the Brotherhood used, the Black Door is not simply its door but rather, it is the Sanctuary itself.
Jon carried the door with a satisfied face. Only he can argue a door to submission.
"And now… what do you call me?" Jon asked.
The Black Door went quiet for a while as if it was deep in thoughts.
The Black Door then answered, "… Mother!"
The Spectral Assassin fell into mad laughter as Jon's lips formed into blowing out the letter "F" with extreme vigor.
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A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️