El Diablo (7) : New Sheoth

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We entered New Sheoth city from the southern gate of Crucible district. The place was as bad as I remember it, gloomy, depressed and smelled worse than Riften itself.

The amount of population and the scale of the city, however, were a bit out of my calculations. The city was much bigger than what I knew and there were more people… or rather mad people. Funny! The 'Shivering Isles' is also called the 'Asylums' so I want to call them the inmates but that would cause trouble.

"Where should we go from now?" Isha asked.

"Shut up, Feminist."

"… Krilon, you son of a… Fine, I'll go my way." Isha said and walked away.

"This is the direction of the sewers."

"…" She froze then turned around obediently.

What I noticed in the day I accompanied her in was that she is pretty bad with directions. How she made it so far is a mystery on its own.

"Sigh! Fine, we are going to the center of Crucible first before heading to New Sheoth Palace. I want to ask someone about something."

I started walking to where I thought I would find a certain place. There were a lot of weird people in the way but taking directions from mad people can be a sort of fun on its own.

Finally, we arrived at the center of Crucible where it started to resemble the game I knew (Oblivion), there were some parts that looked unfamiliar but I finally found a sign to the place I was looking for, Earil's Mysteries.

I pushed the door and walked in right away.

"NO! NO! NO! It was supposed to be still! Why did it move? WHY?"

I could hear some screams coming from the inside.

"Hello!" I said out loud.

"IT IS NOT HELLO! IT IS HELL-O… more like Oh Hell! We are dying, don't you see? We may be already dead!"

"… Okay!"

An old high elf appeared from inside the shop we went in, there was a lot of odd stuff in the shop like statues of weird humanoids and strange looking objects that move and stop on its own. There were even items hanged in the air and human parts preserved in jars.

"A delightfully gloomy place you got here, sir." I said to the High Elf.

"Oh, thank you, thank y… wait! Are you alive or dead?" He spoke normally then asked a strange question.

"Well… I was alive once in a different world far away from here then I died and I came here. Either if I am alive or dead is a real mystery. I once met a man who said that we are in a big dream of some entity and we are not real."

"… Really? This… this is a breakthrough. Tell me, young man, have you ever thought of being put on display?"

I froze in my place.

"Every. Single. Day."

"Oh! Then you are in luck then, I can make that come true! You see, I am a student of the Chronomancy, the Magic of Time Alteration. By using it, I will slow your internal functions until it completely stops…"

"I will stop you right there, there is no need to put me on display that way, I prefer a theatrical manner if you get my meaning."

"Oh, what a shame! You'd look just perfect."

"I know, right?"

This man truly gets it. 200 years ago, Earil was the same shop keeper of this place, he is a high elf so I didn't think that 200 years will get rid of him anyway. But here when it gets ironic, for a High Elf who may live for thousands of years, Earil is obsessed with time and is trying to stop it so he doesn't age older. That's why he uses the Chronomancy, which is a very rare Magic, to stop himself from aging. A kind of an enigma whose talent drove him insane.

"Speaking of Chronomancy, I am a student of Mysticism and Ouranomancy, the magic of Space Alteration. I learned that here is where I can find a master of the Time Magic such as yourself to answer some of my questions."

"Oh! A master of Ouranomancy? How rare! I never heard of anyone like you in the Isles. Wait! You are not from the Isles?"

"No sir, we came through the Fringe?"

"The Fringe? Been a long time since anyone came from there! Then you must be an adventurer, right? Oh, finally, what a wonderful moment! If only I can capture it?"

Finally, he said it.

"Oh, why not? Let's do that." I said casually and took out a small Light Screen from the Cube. I then turned around and raised it up, Earil's image and mine appeared reflected on the screen and I gave the order.

*Flash*

"Here, I captured it for you."

I showed the Light Screen to Earil.

He was frozen and shocked to the point that his jaw dropped and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"What? How? Why?"

"Ohuhu… please, no need to be surprised, this is an alternative way to capture time other than the Chronomancy, it is called… The Photomancy."

"… Photomancy? What… what a beautiful name?" The old High Elf was so touched to the point that he was about to snatch the Light Screen from me.

"I am will to trade this device with you and tell you how it functions but it will be a barter, Magic for Magic, what say you?" I said.

"Magic for Magic? Hahaha! I thought you'd never ask. Let's hear it, what do you want? Do hurry, time is running and we may die before you finish."

"Good, when my companion and I arrived here, there was a difference in the time of our arrival. Also, I want to eliminate that difference on the way back to the Mortal Realm."

"Just that? How long have you been in the Isles?"

"A day for me, two for her."

"I see. And what time do you want to arrive back to the Mortal Realm?"

***

I left Earil's Shop with a wide grin. Not only did I get an answer to my inquiry but I also bought a Mug. Yes, a mug, and there was 'Feminist Tears' written on it and 'Puppy Tears' on the other side. Quite a badass mug that resembles me the most.

"What a treasure!"

"You don't stop once you are triggered, do you?"

"Toxic Feminism never stops. Only people like me can stand in its way."

"Sigh! You really fit well in this mad city, Krilon. By the thinks of it, you seem to know the place very well."

"Well, we bought many maps, didn't we?"

"I may have sneakly took a look inside the shop and found many perserved people in there."

"I am sure every mad man has a good old mummification chamber in his celler."

"I am pretty sure they were alive."

"Welcome to the Crucible then."

"By the way, How did you know that there is a mage in that exact shop?"

"Earil? I learned came from my previous life."

"Previous life?"

"Oh! I haven't done that in a long time. Tell me, have you ever heard about Dragons?"

And a certain conversation, that was weirdly fit to the time and place we are in, started. Anyway, with my departure way secured, I can now do whatever I want in the Shivering Isles. Earil told me that the time flow between the Mortal World and Oblivion is flawed right now and traveling through a rift the same way I did will cause some changes. Luckily, I managed to take some spells from him that can not only fix but manipulate the process.

And now, I can head to my original distention, New Sheoth Palace.

In the west of Crucible, there was a long stairway going up a high wall and guarded by many Dark Seducers who stopped us on the way up.

"Mad God's Blessing, we are here to meet the Mad God." I said.

"… We got word of the new adventurers. This way."

The Dark Seducers seemed to be expecting us. It would be weird if they didn't. Isha became nervous but I can tell that the Seducers are friendly… for now. These Daedra are really treacherous more than any other.

We followed the seducers up the stairs to a gate in the wall and we were allowed to walk through it. Still, we were accompanied by a large number of Dark Seducers. Once we entered the palace courtyard, we walked across the outer corridor to its center and there were a similar number of Golden Saints waited for us.

Hateful glares were exchanged between the Golden Saints and the Dark Seducers but none said a word. Compared to the Dark-Skinned Bikini-Armored Seducers, the Saints were Golden-Skinned Fully-Armored but both races didn't lose in beauty to one another.

(Sheogorath, you lucky bastard!)

'Tone it down, Shadow!'

Accompanied by the Seducers on the right and the Saints on the left, we advanced through the central courtyard towards the main building. Blue Flames were burning on the right and Normal Flames were burning on the left, the atmosphere of the Palace was as two-faced as everything in this realm.

Just as we approached the palace's main gate, we were met by another patch of Seducers and Saints standing on the right and left of a bald well-dressed Breton Gentleman whose clothes were all red and black.

"Oh! They arrived already. Well well, it has been a long while indeed since the last time we have seen some of those scum who call themselves adventurers… no offense." The man said in a quite the delighted tone.

"None taken." I smiled as I replied to him. "I suppose you are the famed Chamberlain Haskill."

"My oh my, I am famous indeed, good for you to know my name, however, it won't grant you any perks around here. Indeed, I am Haskill, chamberlain to Mad God Lord Sheogorath."

"Thank you for allowing us in, I am Krilon and this is my companion…"

"Isha." She said her name.

"The wielder of the Spear of Bitter Mercy and… who are you again?" Haskill looked at me with a cold gaze.

"Me? I am the humble Keeper of the Staff of Sheogorath." I said as I retrieved the staff from the Cube and showed it off.

Haskill, the Saints and the Seducers were taken aback all at once.

"… I knew it." Isha seemed to have found what was suspicious about me all along.

"So… our Lord seemed to have done it again, didn't he? Fine."

"I am also the keeper of the Fork." I said as I took out the Fork of Horripilation.

"Seriously?" Isha wasn't impressed but Haskill, the Saints and the Seducers were taken aback once again.

"Sigh! The lord really likes you to make you keep two important artifacts like that?" Haskill shook his head while sighing wryly.

"Seriously?" Isha was still struggling with the fact that the fork is an important artifact.

"But I fail to remember that any of the two were allowed in the Isles." Haskill said in a bit of a cold tone.

"Oh… I guess we let ourselves in rather rudely. Please excuse us. Hahaha."

"Oh, silly me! I should've known." Haskill switched to a tone that was quite friendly and silly.

"Should we come some other time?"

"No, let's get done with it. What brings you to New Sheoth uninvited?"

"A friend of mine is missing, a Nord, blonde hair, brash attitude, loud voice, fancies himself a warrior bard. His name is Jon Battle-Born." I said.

"And I am here for someone called El Diablo." Isha said.

Haskill raised his brows with amazement.

"… So, both of you are here for the same person, right?"

""WHAT?!""

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