Bloodskal (2) : Blade and Aura

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Raven Rock Mine is a derelict ebony mine located in the most northern part of Raven Rock. It was owned by the East Empire Company before the ebony eventually dried up and they abandoned Raven Rock.

In reality, the miners once broke into an old tomb, also known as Bloodskal Barrow. They managed to wake up the Draugr in the crypt and most of them, if not all, were killed. The East Empire Company sealed this part of the mine and closed the whole of it with the excuse that the mine was dried up.

Jon and his team entered the old mine and moved through the wooden platforms that that was going through the pit-like mine. It wasn't long until the found themselves in front of some Frostbite Spiders. These are some giant arachnids which attack anything on sight and can be found both in the wilderness and in dungeons, their size can be as big as a bear and sometimes bigger. Jon and Jullanar met them a few times in their travels before but the rest were still having it for the first time.

The impact that the spiders left on their mindset was a bit too much for them.

"These things are going to leave me with nightmares?"

"Yeah, look at that hair on their back and legs."

"Come on, guys. They are cute." Jullanar seemed to be okay with it though.

The team moved through the tunnels of the mine going in a curved way down to the lowest part. There, they found a locked gate made of steel bars and behind it was the main area of the mine.

"You smell that? Ebony." Alina said.

"You can smell Ebony?" Wulfur looked at her with a taken aback smile.

"Ebony is the crystallized blood of gods, all the ebony in Skyrim came from the Heart of Shor so a Child of Kyne like Alina would surely be sensitive to it." Bjorna said.

"Oh, I see." Wulfur nodded.

"Also, the Moonblade have an Ebony Mine so I am very familiar with it." Alina added up.

"It's cute and all but look at that."

As they passed the mine, Jullanar discovered something across the mine and pointed it out. There was a big collapse site and there was a hidden open in the wall behind it.

"So that's it, huh?" Jon realized it.

"What is that about?"

"You see, when I took the job from the foreman, he told me that the miners brought down some wall that opened to an ancient Nordic Ruin, draugrs came out from it and attacked the miners badly. Once the East Empire Company found out, they sent out the best explorer in Solstheim with a group of men to explore the area and they never returned to the East Empire Company decided it is not worth it if it is that dangerous. This in front of us is the entrance to the Nordic Ruins."

Jon pointed at the opening in the wall and stepped towards it.

"Wait! You said the East Empire Companies people couldn't do it. You think we can?" Bjorna said.

"It is going to be challenging but I have my trust in all of us, cousin. Remember to watch for traps carefully this time and use short weapons. The place is tight and large weapons like greatswords will get in everyone's way."

"Roger." Jullanar switched to a sword right away.

As all of them switched to Maces which is the most effective weapon against Undead Dragons, Jon started conjuring undead to act as scouts once again and commanded them to get in the ancient Nordic Ruins.

Just as the scouts entered, enemies appeared.

"Oh, that's fast! Those undead are sure lively."

There was not much time to waste and the team started walking carefully in the Ruins anticipating a real fight.

***

Time passed and the place was really hard to proceed through, in every corner there were draugrs and they were truly relentless. Jon broke two maces during his fight alone and had to use Magic to end it. He was mostly saving some of his power for detecting around the traps and for the final fights and emergencies but it wasn't really working out well. Jon had to take a trap for Jullanar who activated it without noticing. His arm with full with poison needles that came from the wall nearby.

After resting for a while and drinking some poison antidote, Jon started to hallucinate a bit he turned to normal an hour later.

"Did I do anything embarrassing?" He asked.

"No… not at all! Alina just was worried about you when she put her hand on your forehead, she said 'He is so hot!' then you woke up and said 'Title your sex book!' and collapsed again." Jullanar laughed out loud as she said so.

"..." Jon looked at Alina with a frightened face but she was looking away.

'Oh boy!' His head almost blanked out but he managed to keep it together.

"Okay, let's just keep going forward. This is our second day in this Ruins so I hope you all took a good rest."

"Yes, we did."

"Okay, forwards again."

The exploring this time took a bit longer and the enemies were a bit tougher, Wulfur and Jon found a Stalhrim deposit in the barrow and mined it. After that, the team managed to break through the ancient draugrs and arrived at something bizarre.

Jon was at the end of a tunnel overseeing a large room, he simply jumped down from the tunnel's end and stepped into the room followed by his group.

"Can we go back after this?"

"Yes, we can teleport out but we are still going forward."

"Forward where? There is no way out here."

"No… there is."

Jon walked into the room and arrived at some old skeletal remains of too long dead men.

"This is Crescius's grandfather, the one who led the exploration into Raven Rock mines and that is… that is what I was looking for."

Jon walked forward and picked something from beside the skeletal remains.

It was a sword… a sword made of dark and red metal, it gave a hint of silver but there was more, Jon obviously knew about the weapon and it was one of the main things he was looking for.

The Bloodskal Blade!

An ancient Nordic artifact. In appearance, it is an enchanted silver longsword decorated with red markings but the enchantment in the sword made it feel strange. Jon also knew about it and was very excited to study it.

He was eager to try it as he wielded right away in one hand and it fitted him perfectly. Jon has a large body so if he used a longsword in one hand, it wouldn't be any different from using a one-handed arming sword or an Imperial Gladius.

Jon didn't wait anymore and focused his all on the sword then made a strong wave at the far cave wall. Without any introductions, the Bloodskal Blade unleashed a red ribbon of mystical energy that flew directly at the cave's wall and struck it hard. As the clash effect faded, there was a mark on the far away wall.

"Awesome!"

He could suppress his curiosity no more and ran towards the wall to check it out and feel the energy traces from the Red Energy Ribbon of the Bloodskal Sword.

He wanted to understand the enchantment but this it was more unusual that he thought it would be. It felt like more of a natural power rather than enchantment.

"If I try to compare it with anything I know it would be… the Aura art. It means that this sword has an Aura on its own or it has some sort of Mystical Enchantment. Something like it was Imbued Armaments Magic or... Maybe it is that." Jon started thinking to himself.

He thought of it deeply but he only could remember one thing about that subject. In history and lore, there was no art that can make the Magical Items magical except enchanting but Imbuing Weapons with Energy is a secret art.

Jon started remembering such examples, two of them he saw being performed by his father Jonrad. He once showed Jon a Dragon Knight skill called [Searing Strike], the sword literally launched the short range fire attacks that hit the target a few meters away, the second skill was [Molten Weapon] that made Jonrad's sword get infused with a strong wave of energy that made it as if it is a sword of lava. These were two skills from Jonrad's arsenal that really impressed Jon but he knew that Jonrad's Battle-Spirit Art (or Aura) was on a completely different level from normal people. The other person who could do the same with a Frost Aura was Sigurd Moonblade, Alina's father.

The other example was easier for Jon to figure out but hard to figure out on his own, that was a spell that he read about that is called [Imbued Weapon]. This spell was created by the monks of the Psijic Order, the masters of Mysticism from the Isle of Artaeum. These people had a secret art that can infuse Magicka with a normal weapon to make it show an effect either to Empower it or make it Launch Elemental attacks. This [Imbue Weapons] spell was the basis that the non-Psijic mystics created [Soulfire], one of Jon's favorite spells, from. [Soulfire] too can imbue weapons with Magic but only enchanted weapons as they use the magical veins inside the enchanted item to channel the Energy.

The possibilities of these ideas were limitless. The Bloodskal Blade gave Jon enlightenment in both Aura and Imbuing Items. He understood that Aura is an Energy combined with a Nature, the Magicka too was also an Energy that comes from one's Spirit but where is the link.

"What if… I linked the Aura and my Magicka together?" This idea popped into Jon's head and he was not going to hold it back anymore.

He unleashed his Aura the shone with green effect around him, this is the Madness Aura that he likes the most and started to apply [Soulfire] on it.

It was different than anything but the Aura was a bit hard to harness and link it with Magicka, the reason because the Aura had more freedom than Magicka in terms of usage… it needed a catalyst.

Something strong… something wild.

Jon could arrive to the answer right away. He felt his own Magicka Pool and sensed the Energy that he left for later to Meditate with it, there were some of it still left and it was under his control.

Without thinking, he linked that Padomic Energy with his Magicka and his Magicka with the Aura right away.

Changes happened to his Aura.

The green color of his Aura started to become darker and heavier, it left no trace of green and started to move around in dark yet unrecognizable grades of color. It started to change again and again and Jon felt he was losing control of it. He added the catalyst but it made it too wild, he now wanted a medium to control that Aura.

He didn't have to look too far, it was in his hand all the time. Jon gripped the Bloodskal Blade firmly with his two hands and rested its tip on the ground then started to put himself in a meditative state to gain control over his energies.

It didn't take long.

His Aura started settling once again and took color, a new color different than the usual green.

It was Red!

Red Aura similar to that Bloody Aura of Hilda but it was different, there was no bloodlust or berserking feeling to it.

There was dominance!

Complete utter dominance!

Superiority!

Highness!

Majesty!

All the haughtiness in the world!

It was power!

A power that gathered all the concepts of what power should be. It can drive people to madness, it can make them kneel, it can affect both physically and mentally, it can take forms and do harm.

Nothing felt more complete.

The red layer of Aura around Jon gave off this nature that Jon liked more. He indeed loved to overwhelm his enemies but this was another step on that path. This was the power he needed the most.

He held the sword up once again and waved it one more time.

The Red Ribbon of Energy was unleashed but it was bigger, faster, stronger and far more powerful than anything else.

Once it landed, it cleaved through the cave's wall. It didn't leave the same pathetic mark from before but it tore the wall as if a dragon marked it with its claw.

That power was comparable to an Expert Level spell, its casting time was… short… way too short.

Jon didn't stop here, he made his Aura take a physical form on his left hand, it was simply a spear. With a simple command, the spear dived into the wall of the cave and left another mark once again.

Jon wasn't shocked… or rather he couldn't be shocked. His Aura led him to a new realm of thinking. He was not controlling power but power was controlling him.

'Will this be alright?' he thought.

Deep down, he realized that he was losing control but he loved it. Freedom felt good! He felt like he can do anything but… he started to feel afraid of himself.

Too much power with a weak control over it… it would lead to a disaster. He tried to hold back his Aura but it was too powerful and imposing, not listening even to him. Power has its own pride after all.

If he can be just a little bit stronger… just one bit stronger!

He was about to be disparate but a helping hand came in time. It was none of his companions following after him, these five were completely in a silent and frozen state.

The ironic thing about this helping hand that it was his own left hand.

It moved on its own and cast a Lightning Strike spell towards himself. It was acting on its own, Jon was not commanding it but the left hand was acting as if had a mind of its own.

Jon felt the pain vividly and his Aura retreated back right away.

Pale-faced, he fell on his butt catching his breath. Despite being out of breath, he felt that his mouth and skin were all dry.

Not only him who was having it hard, Jon felt five thuds behind himself and looked at it right away.

It was his five companions who were following him. They all looked as if they were experiencing something terrifying.

"Oh, boy! I am so sorry." Jon realized that his Aura affected them badly. They were on the wrong side of the cannon.

It took them all a few minutes to calm down.

"Jon… that was… are you…" Alina murmured.

"No need to talk now, rest first. Long story short, my Aura advanced and I almost lost control over it. I was too weak to do so and it got to my head."

"You? Too weak?" Wulfur asked in a shaking voice.

Jon nodded and looked to his left hand.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Thanks… Shadow."