Its Tough to be a God!

As we stood in silence in the wake of Sheogorath's transformation I decided to take it upon myself to break, said silence.

"Well... That happened." I got very pointed looks from them both when I said this. 

Haskell sighed and turned to look at Throgor, his face showed hesitation.

Throgor noticing the look got over his surprise and said, "Haskell, there must be something that can be done."

Haskell sighed once more and said, "We have a rare opportunity... The Mad God's throne is empty. If it remains so when Jyggalag arrives then we have truly lost. But That is only if the throne remains empty."

Steeling himself Haskell continued, "You will sit on the Throne of Madness. It was always Sheogorath's intent for you to be the new Mad God."

"But I'm no Dedric Prince!" Throgor shouted. Haskell allowed the interruption and said calmly, "This may be true. But, Perhaps you can hold the throne, Provided you possess a proper symbol of office. Namely. The Staff of Sheogorath."

Taking a deep breath Throgor calmed himself down and asked, "What must I do?"

"Unfortunately, When Sheogorath faded, so too did the power of the staff. It must be remade. The staff is the symbol of power in this realm. He who holds the staff may hold the throne of the Shivering Isles." 

Slowly Haskell's own fist clenched slightly. "However, The secrets of it's construction are lost." Quickly realizing how his words could be taken he corrected himself and continued.

"But that which is lost can be found once more. There is one being in the Shivering Isles who can help you in the construction of a new staff."

Walking a few steps and turning to look upon the throne he said, "The ruins at knifepoint hollow once served as a great library. There you will find a door. Behind that door. You will find the answer you seek. Although..."

He turned back to look at Throgor, "I hesitate to guide you towards this path. The secrets of the past will surely aid Jyggalag. But I fear we have no other choice. Be mindful of what you find there. That Library, is a thing of order. and It will serve that end."

Reaching into his pocket of his jacket he retrieved a crystal. Tossing the crystal to Throgor he said, "Take this crystal. It contains the power to open the sealed door. There you will find the final remnants of the library."

Throgor having caught the crystal looked at it for a moment and turned to me. The look in his eyes was steel as he looked to me. 

"Azarius... While I am gone, take care of this place. Since there is no Mad God to watch over New Sheoth... watch over them. Please."

A smile was on my face when I heard him. So far he had been strung along the whims of the Mad God. A broken man by this point... had been remade. The first time he came into our shop I was quick to notice his emotions. Spirit vision allowed the sight of the emotional body in the early stages.

My Sight switched at a whim of my mind. The progress of my pathways allowed the ease of use. The colors of his emotional body of heart and mind were vibrant. Muted do the situation we found ourselves in, But striking colors of Orange and Gold were spotted throughout. 

My first look at him all those weeks ago was muted grays and dark blues. That was a Champion, Who had seen hell and back multiple times. Literally.

Now he stood strong. With my smile growing on my face I mimicked the Dedra's Salute. My right fist collided with the shadowy fabric of my jacket. A slightly mocking tone as I said, "Yes! Your grace!"

He broke into his own smile at that and took off to the throne room doors. 

As they closed behind the Champion of Cyrodil I heard Haskell's voice. 

"Lord Mysteries, is it possible?" The tremor in his voice was almost well hidden as he continued to look upon his master's throne.

Turning towards him and walking next to him I said, "It will happen. But we must prepare. I will Not allow a scheming little minx intrude into this." 

Slightly confused by my words he looked to me. But I had already turned and a conjuration spell already formed on my hand. 

With a Flair of my hand, and a flare of Magicka, Naze appeared in the Throne room. 

Turning to me she noticed the serious look upon my face and said, "Lord Mysteries, How can I be of help?"

I kept walking in the direction behind the Throne. "There's a little rat that has scurried into the roots of the Font of Madness. Or she will, don't know which yet. But! I need a contingent of Seducers and Saints ready for what's to come. The Champion of Sheogorath goes to complete the staff. I want to welcome him with open arms."

Seeing the door behind the tree I turned to look at Naze, "You will be my messenger. We gather together to repel the Dedric Lord of Order and his forces. Send word to My Master and Shirou as well. The Final Battle will soon be upon us." 

After she nodded I ended the summoning. Sending her back to where she was. No doubt probably where her new friend was. Even if the Saint would deny it. With them both they could cover much more ground to get ready.

Facing the door once more I moved through it. Traversing the tunnel of roots that made up the underground of the Shivering Isles.

The further I moved down I finally met some resistance in the form of the tree like creatures of the undergrowth, Gnarls. But sadly I was right. Syl had already begun her little campaign. Crystals of Order blocked my way. 

Touching the crystal blocking my path I used structural Analysis. The Order crystal was uniform throughout it's structure. Many times we overloaded the Obelisks with hearts of order to destabilize them. Thinking of ways to accomplish the same I ultimately remembered reinforcement. 

More specifically, a botched reinforcement. Calling upon my shroud to defend me, It shifted to grow a hood and mask of shadows. Placing my had on the door I called upon my circuits and initiated the reinforcement. 

Then I ducked. Just as the crystals became a grenade. With the way open i looked into the doorway to see a few priests. Sadly they were in the blast radius. And those that weren't were reminded that explosions mean projectiles. Now they were littered with wounds from Crystals of Order pelting through them.

My shroud began to take from the nearby shadows to reconstruct itself. Moving quickly, Anytime I found a blocked doorway I found a different way to destabilize them. 

Whether it was using another shard of order, Or a conveniently placed gnarl cultivator that spawned tamed Gnarls that didn't like the crystal doorways. They each fell. 

Soon enough I found the final chamber of the Dementia side. Stealthily making my way inside I found a whole army of Knights. Priests looked around the roots implanting crystals into their structure. And near the center of the pool a large shard. 

Since these no fun loving people didn't like the gifts of Sheogorath, Shall we have fun in their place?

Climbing up the side of the room I kicked off of it. Backflipping in the air I landed on the top of the Shard. Summoning my hat my shroud made my face visible as it shifted into a trench coat. 

With a small flip of my top hat as I bowed, I then placed My top hat onto on my head. The Priests had noticed me as I did my stunt. Standing up straight as I could balancing on the shard I said, "Welcome to the show ladies and gentlemen! and crystal construct... things."

As the spells of various kinds flew towards me I snapped my fingers. The few fire spells were under my control and they morphed into various shapes and blocked the spells. 

Knights drew their weapons as they looked upon me. I had an audience... So I must entertain!

"Naughty, Naughty! Did anyone tell you it's dangerous to play with fire?" A smirk of Irony as my small nine year old self told them off. With a wave the fire spread out, flicking to the many knights and priests in the room. 

"well... no one told me." A snap echoed in the room as I burst into flames. They did not hurt me but in an instant I was no longer in their sights. Appearing behind a priest from one of the flames spread around while drawing my blade. like nothing his crystal masked head flew. Blood flowed in the air surprising the one next to him. Only for him to feel a barrel of a gun to his head as a wind blast blew through his head. 

Azazel made his debut into the fight as he took up my old position atop the shard. And like a director he waved his little paw as shadows converged and trapped a few unlucky souls. 

Alternating between shadow and flame blinking I tore through the madness of the melee. Azazel covered me from above while I caused chaos among them. 

A small feeling of fulfillment went through me as the last one fell. As such I straightened my back. Placed my heels together. Raised an arm to my heart as my left touched upon my hat. Then I bowed to a crowd unseen. 

About 18 enemies in this small room fell. As I rose, the crystal in the center burst in applause for my deeds. 

Then we were back on the move. Dementia's pool has been cleared. Now I needed to clear Mania's. 

The landscape of the roots changed to a more vibrant orange instead of the dreary greens from before. But no time to see the scenery as I continued to traverse the terrain. My hat unsummoned itself, returning inside me as I ran. 

Azazel also returned to my shadow to laze around in there. Not to mention I had seen the sneaky cat taking various items inside there as well. 

Sadly I was unable to peek due to his interference. 

The same song and dance awaited us as we moved through. More doors of order, more scattered priests and knights. Slaughtering my way through them all... I found the Pool of Mania at last. 

Syl was giving a speech so I decided to listen in a little before the fun begins. 

She stood upon a raised platform above the pool. Raising her arms to the celling she spoke, "Brother's and sisters. The time is nigh upon us to do our duty. Jyggalag will soon walk this plane and we will know ORDER! The Mad God's champion, The False Duke, tries to obtain Mad God's power. But he will fail! We will make it so!"

I decided I had enough of her though.

"We the Priests and Knights of Order will fool the pretender's plans. Jyggalag Will reg- ack!" 

Her sudden stop was due to her now hanging from the celling by shadows. Took a page out of Azazel's book here. And I can see why he likes it. It really is satisfying to see this. 

The priests were obviously scared by the sudden change. Knights quickly went into action though. Drawing their weapons and looking about as a few of the priest's rushed to the dangling Syl. But as an unwise red queen once said, "OFF, WITH HER HEAD!" 

Azazel popped out of my shadow to do the deed. With a swing she was lined up just right as he formed a guillotine. And a head was rolling down the stairs to the priests. 

With my announcement, Fog rolled out from me. I was really feeling the showmanship today. 

Feeling myself and the full blown laughter from my bond with my mother, I moved forward to say my own little speech. For you see, all of the Gnarls from before on the Mania side, I didn't kill. 

"Its impolite to intrude into another's home you know. So I have to ask you to all leave this little plane now. Though, Ill allow my new friends to show you the way out." Just as I finished the Gnarls burst through the door. Seeing the knights as their enemies, they went to work slaughtering them. 

In the end I stayed upon the little platform as the Gnarls tore them apart. The final priest was at the bottom of the stairs trying to claw his way up. He raised an arm to cast at least one spell at me but one of the two remaining Gnarls noticed him. So he was speared by a root and dragged back like something from a horror film. 

With the final priest dead I pulled Amentia from it's holster and fired three bullets from it. Would have been two if I didn't get a mayhem spell in the mix as the first one. 

With a flap of my trench coat I stepped forward scooping the crazy Warhammer Nerve Shatter into my ring. Following the path I found my way back to the entrance. In truth I could tell I had been down here at least half a day. They made so many doors down here in the maze like interior it was ridiculous. I would not mind a nice relaxing bath. 

Especially with all of the blood on me. On the to do list for sure! But at least a quick clean spell worked as a start. 

Half a day down here really drained me. Magicka regenerated fine, but its use did leave one fatigued. Then there was the blinking fiasco that drained me of spirituality. That was the main reason for luring the Gnarls to the final showdown. 

Why make things difficult after all. 

"(Sigh)"

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Its Tough to be a god!

Tread where Mortals have not Trod!

Be deified when Really... You want stones!

An:// Hellooo, We come to the Final Hours of The Shivering Isles! With the end of this Arc we will move into the timeskip journals. (roughly 1, Maybe 2 chapters for each Journal) Then we can get on with our multiversal Shenanigans. Love the support from the people reading, (trust me I see all the notifications of Power stones and collections through the day when a chapter come's out. love to see it.) 

I've been thinking of a special guest appearance of a couple when the traveling starts, look forward to it! Give me your best guesses though! 

The Hint: Two people, Individuality!

Btw.... wonder who will get the references.... 

Peace!