Chapter 737: The Path of Knowledge

A/n: You guys know this type of cat that runs away for a while and then returns home with a few kittens on her tail. Welp, think of me the same way.

Earlier in January, I became a proud father of Aisha (little Donna as you shall refer to her by now), who completely graced this mortal realm with her presence on a winter day just like her father.

And since I finally started sleeping properly in the past month, I got my Masters and worked as a screenwriter for a local entertainment show, and yeah… I AM A DAD!

————————————————————

If somebody were to ask Jon, why on Nirn… or in Oblivion… would you steal a part of an Oblivion Realm that belongs to a Daedric Prince and take it away with you?

For that question, Jon would simply shrug his shoulders!

In truth, however, he was just looking for a way to vex Hermaeus Mora even more than what already happened with the Oghma Infinium.

But there is more to just that. Jon’s intention of making enemies with Hermaeus Mora is intended to reach the point of no return. Jon doesn’t want Hermaeus Mora to even be on good terms with him so in the likelihood of him coming to face off Miraak at the final battle, Hermaeus Mora still remains attached to Miraak.

In other words, if Hermaeus Mora was to find Miraak troublesome (which is already the case), he has to find Jon Dare to be absolutely intolerable.

It can be said that Jon was fixing the wedge between Miraak and Hermaeus Mora at this point.

“Such a good guy you are.” Alina held up the ruined Black Book of Secret Twilight and opened it wide.

It was not only ruined but disintegrating to ashes by the second. Alina held up and down in wonder at how such an object was slowly dying.

“You took it out of its habitat so it is naturally dying. This may be one of the rare events where a Daedric Creature is experiencing true death.” Master Neloth commented while rubbing the ash of the Black Book with his fingers.

“No apology here!” Jon said with a grin.

“What did you do with that Apocrypha chapter after ripping it from the realm?” Neloth asked.

“I dropped it in Coldharbour in place of the Hollow City which I ripped from Molag’s realm a long time ago.” Jon said.

“You ripped Molag off the same way you ripped Mora? This keeps getting better and better.” Wulfur laughed.

“But imagine this, Hermaeus Mora trying to get his chapter back from Molag Bal. Knowing Molag, he’d never do that.” Neloth commented.

“This will bring more trouble to Hermaeus Mora for sure. Cunning!” Alina added.

The team was all gathered at Tel Mithryn where their host Neloth was quite pleased with the results of the fight between Jon and Miraak.

“The most important thing right now is never to stop our momentum.” Jon said, “I am afraid that despite all these hits, we only made the enemy angry. They will retaliate and will come after us.”

“What can they do?” Jullanar asked.

“Dragons.” Jon said, “If I were Miraak, I’d keep me busy with multiple Dragon attacks all across the island. Maybe send some back to the mainland.” Jon said.

“Correct.” Alina agreed, “I’d do that too but to keep you hot on heels, I’d go after more Dragons.”

“Tame more Dragons?” Neloth asked, “I imagine it is not that easy.”

“It requires power but Alina is right. Gaining more Dragons on his side is a good move that he’d most likely do. There is a big Dragon influx in Skyrim and a Dragonborn with his power can do that even with his Astral Projection.”

“Wouldn’t he attack Morrowind too?” Wulfur asked.

The entire group of people turned to Wulfur.

“I’d do that. It is no secret that Jon has a strong teleportation network across Skyrim and we are even establishing a portal on Solstheim. The best place to keep you really busy is Morrowind. It is close but you’d need to travel there by yourself to ward off a Dragon attack.”

“Spot on.” Neloth liked Wulfur’s opinion but he got ahold of himself and returned to his cold attitude, “The warrior is right.”

“Yes. We’d have to do something about that.” Jon started thinking.

“We can send a trade ship from Winterhold to Neo Vevic and equip it with a portal. The ship can stay over there for as long as a week according to the trade agreement with House Redoran.” Jullanar said.

“A portal on a moving ship is never a good idea but we can do that.” Alina agreed.

“Alright. We are ready to take the hits but where are we going to punch back?” Jon asked.

Everyone started thinking but it was Neloth who applied with a grin.

“I think I know just the place.”

***

“The Dwarven Ruins of Nchardak.” Jon exclaimed, “The city of hundred towers.”

“Right you are.” Neloth replied.

“The last of the Black Books is here.” Jon said.

“You keep spoiling things for yourself, n’wah!” Neloth replied, walking ahead, “We get the Black Book stashed in here and you can do what you want with it but after I get to see what knowledge it holds.”

“Deal.” Jon said dispiritedly.

Nchardak was believed to be the largest, and perhaps the most advanced, of the great Dwemer Archives.

The city was considered to be a marvel of engineering, even by Dwemer standards, as it employed a complex system of pumps, aqueducts, and boilers that released steam into various parts of the city. Using various control cubes, the Dwemer were able to raise and lower the entire city into the sea at will. Legends tell of the time when invading Nords attempted to conquer it. In response, the Dwemer submerged the city beneath the sea until the Nords gave up.

At its height, the great workshops of Nchardak were said to be able to produce one complete automaton every day, an apparently impressive rate of production. Much of the army that fought at the Battle of Red Mountain was believed to have come from Nchardak.

Either way, the Fate of Nchardak was the same as most of the Dwemer Ruins in this world, either occupied by invaders or overseen by someone who wants to exploit them. In the case of Nchardak, it was both of them.

“Reavers and Looters, how unexpected!” Jon said as he stepped on the bridge leading to Nchardak with Neloth.

“Lucky for the two of us, my Nord N’wah, I’ve sealed the gate to Nchardak with its own mechanisms. This will keep away all those pesky looters and we will get to go in after we clean up the place.”

“Let’s see, there are 30 of them, there are 2 of us.” Jon started to make a headcount with his passive perception.

“You’re pitying them, aren’t you?” Neloth asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t if they stood a chance.”

Like the wrath of nature, Jon and Neloth turned into two bolts of lightning as each one of them scaled a tower from the high rises of Nchardak. Neloth, armed with two staves, and Jon with one staff and one sword.

Neloth summoned a storm of lightning and a wave of Ash Atronachs while Jon started dropping an endless amount of Fireballs to carpet the whole ruins.

“LAAS YAH NIR!” (Life, Seek, Hunt)

He even shouted the Aura Whisper to reveal every last one of the looters who were infesting the ruins. While Neloth was rounding up the looters and taking down any mage among them with Lightning, Jon was multi-killing the groups of looters that were swarming.

Once only the toughest warriors and mages of the looters remained, Jon jumped off the tower and started hacking and slashing until no one was left alive.

“This is glorious!”

With smiles and glee, Jon started walking around his kills, tossing them from the top of the bridges and the towers to the sea beneath. Most of Nchardak was built in the sea so it was mostly made of towers springing up from the waters and bridges connecting them.

With that, Neloth and Jon traveled to the largest platform in the Dwarven Ruin and stood in front of a mighty gate.

“The Dwemer of Nchardak appear to have been fond of these control pedestals. Luckily I found a cube to operate it inside on my last visit. I sealed the door when I left to keep out ignorant meddlers. Let me unlock it. The book is just inside.” Neloth said.

He placed the cube on the pedestal and just like that the gate, which was sealed with many dwarven metal bars, was no longer barred. The gate opened and the two walked into the Dwarven Ruin.

“Impressive place.” Jon commented.

“No thanks to anyone other than yours truly. I’ve kept this place clean and pristine for as much as my ability allowed. The Dwemer are no easy task masters though.” Neloth prided himself with his work then complained before looking somewhere and smiling widely, “You can see the book right there. So tantalizingly close… But trust me, no magic will open that.”

The Black Book was just where Neloth said it was, beneath a sealed shield of impenetrable glass-like substance in the middle of a glorious Dwarven hall.

“Really interesting.” Jon said as he went down on one knee to examine the substance that sealed the Black Book.

It was rather impenetrable and immune to all sorts of vibrations and shocks. Worst of all, even his shadow wasn’t cast inside the sealing spot.

“I’d have had the book already if I could. No, we’ll have to do this the hard way. If we can restore the steam supply to this room, I’m certain I can open it. As you’ll see, that’s easier said than done. This way to the…”

“Hold up!” Jon said as he analyzed the sealing technique before exclaiming, “Holy smokes!”

“Yes, yes, I’ve studied it for years, I can share some notes with you later.” Neloth said dismissively.

“This is not Glass, it is actual… frozen… reality! Frozen Space!” Jon screamed like a fangirl.

“Yes, yes.” Neloth rolled his eyes unamusingly.

“And my shadow doesn’t even go in! This means that the light photons are frozen within! God! The time itself is paused!”

“Wait, what?” Neloth was momentarily surprised before immediately getting his act together, “Oh… right. Time is frozen, I thought you said something else.”

Lucky for him, Jon didn’t even pay him the slightest attention.

“Hahaha! Those Dwemer, man! Impressive little fucks! They just keep getting under one’s skin 4000 years after they poofed!” Jon kept monologuing, “I wonder how they did it! Absolute Zero? Most of the molecular motions would halt but the Book wouldn’t keep itself together. The individual atoms would overlap so much that they collapse into a single quantum state. It has to be Tonal waves, I’m sure of it. They set it on a spectacular level of finesse.”

“Yes, yes… yes, yes, yes. Let’s get going, Wizard Jon. We can’t waste time.” Neloth had to drag Jon away from the domed reading room where the book was sealed before entering deeper into the Nchardak.

“As I said, we need to restore the steam supply to the reading room if we want to get the book.” Neloth spoke as he activated the elevator heading deeper into Nchardak.

As they reached the control room level, Neloth operated the controls as Jon traveled across the old ruins discovering cubes and fighting ancient machines. It took them a couple of days to discover it all and finally, they removed all the water pressure from the reading room. This allowed the seal around the Black Book to be lifted.

Once Jon and Neloth got back to the reading room, the Book was already lifted from the Seal while resting on a pedestal.

“After you.”

“Thank you.”

The two men approached the Book with an equal amount of professionalism and curiosity.

“Mora is gonna have it hard.” Jon said with a vicious grin but as soon as he turned towards Neloth.

*STAB*

“UUGH!”

Neloth stabbed Jon right in the heart.

“Wh…” Jon’s face paled from the shock at the sight of the weird green sword in Neloth’s hand.

Neloth tilted his head and smiled as the illusion around him was dispelled as if a layer of visual illusion was being burnt away.

“Hermaeus Mora sends his regards!”

The one beneath that illusion was none other than the First Dragonborn, Miraak.

And with a single kick, Miraak kicked Jon towards the Black Book which opened by itself and its tentacles swallowed Jon in one go before closing again.

————————————————————

A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ .com or Google “Donovel Linktree” ⬅️