Reviving, Provoking

"Excuse me?"

"Haha, stay right there Dremlaashon," Yuri folded hand signs that were completely unfamiliar to the rest of the audience in rapid succession before landing on one that had his palms facing towards each other while his pinkies and thumbs were cradling each other and his other three fingers on each hand were splaying out.

Durnehviir was caught in a maelstrom of green light while his original purple hue was drowned out and replaced. And so the ritual began. Yuri pulled a blank book whose materials looked not of this world and did not pull out a writing utensil.

"Durnehviir, twisted name bound through trickery and dishonor. Branded, not given, alongside an eternal servant's bond. Kirya dessenti ulte varno respunye quillan. Landra. Evekta landra, syl pastoar fil ki valesti. Come before me in shackles as the charlatan with tilted scales, evidence of deceit be wrought in chains. Yaten!"

Durnehviir wanted to comment on his harshness, but the proceedings seemed too sacred to interrupt.

Putrid bile pooled from the surface of Dremlaashon's skin and onto the floor before making its way before Yuri's feet. Tendrils of it seemed to drag the rest of the puddle forward as Yuri used his free hand to grip and demand its departure. Yuri's hand rose with his palm facing down and the bile came up like a spindle and twirled up to nearly his height. With his other hand, he faced the book to the bile and it somehow hesitated but jumped inside the book nevertheless.

Dremlaashon didn't look too good, fading away in fact, even the green luster was dimming. Which was why Yuri had to act quickly.

Yuri pulled the rest of the bile into the book and a brand took shape. No sacred geometry, no neat circles or magical formations. A single line of text in Spirit language that translated exactly to the name and the corruption due to his bond spiraled from outer edge to center.

Yuri placed his hand in the center of the spiral and started murmuring in Spirit while tracing his finger along the spiral. Occasionally getting caught and tongue-tied on parts of it, which made the purple text start to battle the green that was trying to take it over with more fervor. Yuri couldn't really sweat, but he would if he could. As Yuri neared the end of the spiral, he started the other half of the chant.

"Dremlaashon, honored name bestowed through pride and godliness. Given, not branded, created in the image of eternity. Edenur vilas obrias varno extatia quillar. Landra. Evekta landra, nil fantine quesu jor may. Rise before me in jewels as an honored friend, affirmation of a blessed truth be displayed in praise. Lahayem!"

Yuri closed the book with a slap while black smoke tried to escape it. He raised his hand and on his palm was a familiar green spiral of Spirit text. He struck his palm down on the cover of the book and it exploded with green light from every page and suffused the room in its glow once more.

His palm was now blank. He opened the book once more, and a ghostly image of a green serpent flew from it and gently ascended while smoke drifted off of it. In his hand, he burned the book while he locked eyes with the True Name and caught it by the tail. Yuri ran to Dremlaashon with his strange balloon and whipped it at him full force!

Dremlaashon took the greatest inhalation of his life as his near translucent form suddenly took on an actual form again and rapidly gained shape. He then slumped over and passed out immediately after. But he was still an undead! That was the easy part, though.

Yuri pulled out not one, but like 25 souls from his star and formed them into a ball before blasting the shit out of them and threading them through him like he was drying a cat. The same as Serana, Drem lost his taint and gained new dragon flesh at the same rate, but took a lot longer. What Yuri had no idea about, was that Drem was taking to his light magic as a fish to water and it was nourishing his cells more than he intended.

30 minutes of that later, and Yuri slumped over and imitated Drem. Toni, Ally, and a newly woken Serana came to check on both of them after merely watching in mystification for the entire time. None of them understood what he was doing in the least till he started playing with those souls, and Serana got the third POV of how that went with her.

"Yuri?... What is that?" Ally pointed to Yuri's left hand, which he used to smash the book.

Yuri raised it lazily, then jerked his head toward it like a chicken and rose on his butt again, and stopped laying down.

"Why is the bond there again?" Yuri asked himself but found his answer immediately. "Shit, he's gonna kill me. Well, try, I mean."

"What happened, love?" Toni asked.

"I didn't foresee the consequences of using Spirit language in this ritual. It made it the most effective, but he also became my familiar... Also his name sounds the same but is now technically in Spirit language. Meaning he isn't Akatosh's anymore, but mine."

"What is spirit language?" Ally asked and Serana listened for the answer.

"It's uh, a very old language belonging to creatures similar to the Ehlnofey."

"You learned Ehlnofex?!" Serana asked him loudly, gaining the attention of Valerica and the shrug of Savos, who took it as typical.

"Well, yes, but that wasn't Ehlnofex. Similar in their root in a roundabout way. Moving on!" He announced awkwardly.

"What has happened, Kro?" Dremlaashon spoke out, his voice had smoothened and gained some youthful vigor but retained the deep and regal timbre.

"Well, good morning, Dremlaashon. How do you feel?"

After a pause, Drem digested and spoke. "Being called Dremlaashon sent a tingle in my soul, different, but it felt right. I feel much more alive than even my glory days..." Dremlaashon looked down at his body and reeled his large neck back a bit.

"What have you done, Kro?!"

Dremlaashon lost none of his bulk, and the top half of his form glittered with numerous overlapping scales that flowed to his long and powerful tail. The fabric of his wings looked like thin and tight layer of impenetrable muscles, bone spikes pointed from his vulnerable joints, and his horns grew beside his head and protected their sides. His limbs looked powerful and weaponized in their own right, and even his underside grew scale layers of a more natural skin tone. He was a beast.

{Picture Here}

'A dragon with a Spirit name... that sounds like a regular Dragon Lord to me. Did I just make my own Dragon Lord by accident? I might be able to use him to jump Spirit Realms! Oh, the plans I have for you, hahaha!'

"Oh, nothing. Given you an upgrade with your name, I guess... Where's my thank you?" Yuri swaggered over and smirked at him playfully while holding his arms out.

"Hahaha! You look incredible!" Ally cooed.

"Badass..." Toni admired quietly.

"Ridiculous... How did this happen?" Serana inquired.

"Simple, anything I touch turns to gold!" Yuri feigned arrogance.

"My deepest gratitude, Kro. Yet, I feel a bond with you. Will this pass? If not, an explanation is advised," Drem was displeased at the thought of being bound again, but he felt no danger or suppression like he did with the Soul Cairn and believed he could fly out of here without worries, which excited him.

Yuri showed him the back of his left hand, where a green spiral rested.

"This is your True Name, our bond, and the foundation of a symbiotic dynamic in the future. I haven't tested the effects yet, but with my abilities, the fair arrangement it made can become mute if I desired."

"You would trap me just as they did?!"

"Make no mistake, I did not do this on purpose, nor do I intend on suppressing you. But once we bonded this became more complicated. You can have all the freedom, all the fighting, all the feasting, and even more power than you can possibly desire. Cross my lines or betray my interests, however, and this bond mark becomes a weapon that will never lose against you. Those are very easy conditions, I hope we can make the best of our situation, Dremlaashon."

Yuri was actually underselling the mark. He could destroy Drem in body and soul and use him for alchemical ingredients, but that would be a waste. Yuri could add circles around it and apply more conditions without notice as well. He wouldn't, but he could.

"I will not serve a mortal, even one as powerful as you, Kro."

"I won't be mortal for long. But service is an entirely different story than what I'm selling you, Drem. You'll be travel partners with me for as long as you live. We can discuss the details as they arise. Would it be so hard to call me Grah-Zeymahzin?"

"Hmmm. Your words ring true, and you have not dishonored them yet. The Dovahkiin calls you Grah-Zeymahzin, so I shall do so as well, Kro."

"Call me Yuri, for now."

"Hmm... I shall do so."

"You know, if we're gonna be traveling with him, he needs to be able to get smaller at times..." Toni commented. Yuri remembered the gift he was planning on preparing for Paarthunax and thought of doing the same for his new Dragon.

"I can fix that."

While Savos was introducing chess to Drem, Yuri told the girls of his plans for the Soul Cairn. The two of them didn't want him to go alone, but Yuri assured them of his multiple emergency and escape measures before he left them wishing him safety.

Yuri was back in the portal room in moments, pulling out soul husks from his inventory and eating them for good measure. They tasted like tofu took on the texture of a dry sponge. No, they tasted like bones that were not only flavorless but were trying to take the flavor BACK from YOU.

'These are supposed to guard against the Ideal Masters' life drain effect, but I don't know by how much. Better Ward myself. Soul magic of their variety is attempting to pull it out of me or damage it and consume it unnaturally. Yeah, nothing about the Soul Cairn is natural so Light magic will do just fine in this case'

Yuri stepped into the Soul Cairn once more and saw the same scene. Death is colored purple in the Aurbis.

It looked like the inner circles were on their way to recovery since the Mistmen were back funneling souls into the second layer. Yuri looked down and saw souls of varying Karma and weighed his options. The balance of karma here was the same as in any city. In fact, less so because devious people are more likely to send more people here than to get sent here themselves.

'Once I destroy them or do anything along those lines, the whole place is likely to go down and cast every soul in here adrift in chaotic creatia. They'll evaporate. True death doesn't really exist in this universe, but they just might do that if they suffer the Oblivion realms as bare souls. I have to take them all before moving. Even if I find my goal impossible, I can refine the souls with poor karma and call it a day. Wait, I guess I am the other way to experience true death.'

Yuri stepped down from the stairs and shrouded himself, before starting to rob three immortal Necromancers from the Merethic Era blind.

{Next Chapter: How...Ideal}