Not Alone (A Skyrim Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

     More tentacles, spinning, and splotches of green, then I was back in Apocrypha.  This time no welcoming committee awaited me, which didn’t hurt my feelings as the last one had been rather rude.  Since I for once wasn’t in mortal danger, I took a moment to evaluate my surroundings. 

     The first thing I noticed was that there were books everywhere.  I suppose I ought to have expected that, Hermaeus Mora being the Daedric Prince of knowledge and all that, but there were a ton of books.  They were stacked into piles, crammed haphazardly into shelves, and even just floating around in midair, along with several loose pages.  Apparently the Prince of Knowledge was an unorganized slob.

     Next I noticed the green liquid and waving tentacles.  Now I understood why Hermaeus Mora chose to appear as a mass of tentacles in his dealings with mortals.  Clearly he got the idea from his plane of Oblivion.  And I didn’t know what that green fluid was, but it looked unpleasantly like the acid that the Lurkers had spat, and I decided it would serve no one’s best interests for me to fall in it.  Well, maybe it would serve Miraak’s interests, but I was uninterested in his interests….  I’ll stop now. 

     Directly in front of me was a glowing flower sort of object.  It looked like it ought to do something, but I was rather reluctant to touch anything associated with Apocrypha.  I looked around.  There was nowhere to go, as the corridor in front of me somehow led absolutely nowhere, merely ending with an opening through which I could see more acid.  Perhaps the flower was some sort of activation device?  I finally drew my sword and poked it, jumping back as it snapped shut in response.  The corridor slowly began to rotate.  Ignoring my misgivings, I jumped onto it before it could completely clear the area, jogging to the other side.  The walls to either side would not permit me to see anything, but the corridor momentarily stopped by itself at another place to jump off.  I did so and found another flower thingy, which I activated with my sword again.  The corridor started to move once more with me along for the ride.  This stop had another of the large black books standing on a pedestal.  Was I supposed to read it?  Would it take me back to Solstheim?  I had only been here about 10 minutes and already the darkness and oppressiveness was wearing on me. 

     Without picking up the book I flipped it open and read two words before the spinning started.

     Chapter Two.

     I materialized in another tunnel of Apocrypha.  Part of me regretted that I hadn’t been taken back to Solstheim, and the other part of me was glad I hadn’t.  The glad part shrunk to almost nothing after I had activated a flower, gone through a tunnel, come out into a larger room, and walked straight into two Seekers and yet another Lurker. 

     I was rather more afraid of Seekers than Lurkers, but it turned out my fears were unfounded.  They died like anything else I had ever encountered and didn’t try to use whatever power had forced me back to Solstheim the first time I had been here.  They did, however, use some sort of magic that lessened my own Magicka, made my movements sluggish, and sent waves of burning pain through whatever body part it touched regardless of armor.  I quickly learned to avoid these blasts of magic at all costs while still closing with them.  I would have stayed away and shot fireballs, but they would transform into black floating wisps and chase after me, teleporting from in front to behind me in an instant. 

     Honestly, the thing that annoyed me most about them was their stench.  I really couldn’t think of anything in Skyrim or Solstheim to compare it to.

     After this there was another flower, and another book, then some more Seekers, then another flower which opened a gate which led to a folding bridge with a Lurker.  Another flower, more Seekers, then I came to a circular room with nothing but a pool in the center.  Eyeing it distrustfully I sidled around the side, trying to stay as far away from it as possible.