Dragonborn Chapter 303: El Diablo (3) : Welcome to the Isles

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Jon and Isha were still hiding in the shade of a certain house of Riverwood away from the eyes of the villagers. Isha was looking at Jon whose eyes showed unease behind the mask wondering what happened to him. After she told him about the meaning of the term 'Labour', he almost fainted where he stood and squatted on the ground trying to calm himself.

"I… I see now. So a 'Labour' is something like that. Now, that I think about it, there was that story called 'The Labours of Hercules'... Fuck! Why does such a disturbing thing make so much sense?!"

Isha waited for Jon to calm down, he even used [Telepathy] and told his people about the situation of Jon Battle-Born asking them to secure more time.

"Fine, let's get this thing over with." He stood up and started looking around.

"What are you planning on doing?"

"Figure out what to do." Jon said and came to a fast conclusion. "We need to find a clue of any sort of any energy traces left by the Daedra."

"Can you do it?"

"It should be easy but this is a big deal so I need an expert, and I know just the girl."

Jon called out for his most trustworthy friend. The shade they were hiding in started to come to life and a black cat appeared.

"Hooman, I feel like you can't do anything without my involvement these days." Nefertiti walked towards Jon and Isha and jumped on a haystack to reach a higher level.

"..." Isha was looking at the black cat and tightened the grip on her spear.

"What are you?" She felt threatened by Nefertiti for some reason.

"Shush!" Jon hushed both girls as a guard was passing by then let them again.

"Nefertiti, Isha. Isha, Nefertiti. Introductions over. You, take a human form."

Jon cut to the chase and Nefertiti turned into her human form.

"She is my companion and familiar but as you can tell, she is way too absurd for normal taste."

Isha listened to Jon and looked at the Gothic Lolitlike girl that appeared from the cat. Her head started spinning from the inside but she managed to hang on to a thin thread of sanity.

'A chicken worshipping village and a cat that can talk and turn into a human. The Chief told me that Skyrim is weird but not that weird.' She thought.

Jon didn't have time to make a detailed introduction and spoke right away.

"I want you to personally search the village for any Daedric presences. We don't have much time so hurry up."

"It's alright, Hooman. I can do it."

As she said so, multiple Shadow Atronachs were summoned by her in the form of black cats and started running around the village.

Isha was holding her spear nervously while looking at Nefertiti, Jon was looking around too but his eyes got fixed on Isha's spear and tilted his head.

'That spear… I feel like I've seen it before!' He thought about it but couldn't remember anything. The Spear had a mighty appearance with a trident-like blade but more shaped into a spear, the shaft was made of a black metal that had some resemblance to ebony.

"Good spear." Jon said.

Isha turned to him and nodded.

"Indeed it is. Shame it doesn't belong to me."

"It doesn't?"

"Yeah, it is the key part of my Labours. All those who carry on with a Labour must wield a mighty weapon."

"... I see."

Jon wanted to ask more but the word 'Labour' made him feel uncomfortable. The story that Isha told him made his skin crawl.

"Found it!" Nefertiti's voice broke Jon's line of thoughts.

"Where?"

"This way."

Nefertiti led Jon and Isha back towards the South and ended up at the cell under the village wall. The guards Isha knocked out were still unconscious.

"Back here again?" Isha asked.

"As I thought, something is wrong with this place. But I thought there is some interference..." Jon started thinking once he stepped back into the cell.

"Hooman, there is a strong foul presence here. You should be careful." Nefertiti explained as she got closer to him wary about her surroundings.

"Foul presence? I don't feel anything." Isha said.

"I don't think I feel anything foul too but this place has a unique... way in handling Magicka. But if Nefertiti said foul then..." Jon spoke and gulped, "This change in Magicka, this Foulness that Nefertiti feels, we had past experience with something similar."

The air around Jon became heavy once he thought of that day.

"What thing was that?" Isha asked.

"A Realm of Oblivion."

Jon and Isha were looking at each other firmly.

"So... we need to get there?"

"This is your only lead after a fruitless week. I am not sure what's on the other side but you should get ready."

"... Let's do it, then."

They came to an agreement and Jon got to work.

The cell they were in had what Jon calls an 'Oblivion Rift'. Much similar to the Nightmare Incident in Dawnstar when an 'Oblivion Rift' caused the town to be cursed with nightmares, this rift caused Riverwood to be cursed with insanity. Oblivion Rifts need mediums like the [Skull of Corruption] to spread the influence of the Daedra around but that medium seemed to be not physical this time around and to travel through the Oblivion Rift, one needs to be knowledgeable.

Jon made a few rapid preparations and lift a strong [Magicka Mark] outside the cell in a hidden place then returned once again.

"I won't say I am ready but I've done all that I can." Jon said and Isha nodded.

"Well then, here goes nothing."

Jon walked to the center of the cell and started to resonate his Magicka with the Law of Magicka in the Realm behind the Rift so that he can use magic immediately unlike the time with Quagmire.

The cell that seemed to be empty and cold to Isha started to feel a bit weird right now. Jon was done with studying the Law of Magicka of the Oblivion Rift and opened his eyes.

He then took out the [Skeleton Key] from the cube and connected it to his Magicka and to the Oblivion Rift without Isha noticing and established a link. A keyhole formed and Jon passed the key through it then...

*click*

... changes started to happen.

The quite and empty room now had a strange glowing orb of unstable Magicka floating in the middle. A massive chunk of Magicka disappeared from Jon's Energy Center just to create that Portal with the [Skeleton Key].

"Whoa!" Isha surely didn't see such a thing coming. A magic phenomenon like none she ever saw before.

"This portal will take us to where we should go."

"This thing? Where?"

"Damn if I know."

Jon offered a hand to Isha and looked at her. The latter felt a bit uneasy but she cursed aloud and took his hand in the end. The two walked through the portal.

The other side of the portal was a little bit peaceful and a bit weirder. Jon didn't know the place but he looked behind him to talk to Isha.

"... Fuck!" He couldn't help but curse.

Unlike [Teleport] and [Gate] spells, [Portal] is way too obscure and people traveling with portals may appear in different locations. This seemed to be the case as Isha was nowhere to be seen.

"Hooman, this place is weird." Nefertiti popped out from shadow and sat on Jon's shoulder. She doesn't stick this close unless she is worried.

"No worries, I left a safety way out just in case." Jon assured her and started looking around this weird place.

He was atop of a hill and there was well-made road under his feet, he checked the structure but didn't sound Nordic. Even looking at the strange weather around him that felt like Falkreath in midsummer when the folk harvests the forest berries and make juices with strong scent… it was a bit odd yet somehow familiar. Jon didn't want to admit it at first but he felt that he knew where he is.

He walked down the small hill he was on and passed some ruins that didn't resemble any civilization on Tamriel. Just a few steps forward and something jumped at him.

Avoiding the danger nimbly, Jon unleashed his Magicka and called for the Flame Magic burning whatever jumped towards him to a fine ash. Another creature came towards him but to his curiosity, Jon didn't attack and cast [Bind] on the creature to see what that was.

It was something like a Frog-Man in primitive gear, Jon didn't need an encyclopedia to recognize the name of the creature.

"A Grummite." Jon said to himself. He was now sure where he is.

A few steps away from the Grummite, Jon went out of the rocky area and started to see the unique landscape of the realm that looked like strange spiky rocks growing from the ground and vegetation grew on it, a completely alien realm.

He conjured a Flame Atronach Horse and sent a few flying Owl Familiars to scout the areas around him then started riding with the road.

An hour passed and Jon finally arrived at a strange town the grew under some giant roots of strange trees with wooden trunks and mushroom heads, the place seemed to be ruined and deserted with no sign of human activity at all.

A few monsters started appearing here and there from Grummites to the Baliwogs which are some horrible small monster that looks like a fish and a frog with four limbs. There were even the Elytra which are large mantic-like monsters.

Jon's policy was simple, kill the filth from afar by the incredible amount of Magicka he possesses. Even though he depleted a lot to come to this realm, he still carries a large reserve of potion in the Cube. The sound of explosions drew more monsters but Jon only levitated in the air and poured death from above. Once the stench of death scared away the monsters and sent them escaping, Jon landed in beside a small lake amidst the ruined town to take a breath.

But once his land touched the ground, a strange voice came.

"Ouch ouch ouch, ya're steppin on me leg, not the leg… it's me favorite, ya wanker. ouch ouch!"

The strange voice made Jon jump away back in the air.

"Who's there?"

"Sheesh, look what've ya done, you crazy wanker… a bloke like you can be squished with my pincers, I tell you that!"

"..."

Jon was utterly speechless of what emerged from the lake side.

"Hooman… is that… a talking mudcrab?"

"Bloody Oblivion! A talkin cat?"

In front of Jon and Nefertiti, there was a mudcrab… a larger than the average talking mudcrab.

"Why is it here?" Jon asked himself while looking at the mudcrab in wonder. He saw that creature before in a previous game called 'Morrowind' but… it was way too strange to speak to a mudcrab.

"Whaddaya think? Sheesh. I'm a mudcarb... crab. Shure. A mudcrab. Thas me. Pretty sure. I LOOK like a mudcrab, right? Mush be. Thish IS me talking, right? So? I mush be... A talking mudcrab. And I sells stuff, right? So? I mush be a talking mudcrab merchant. Stands to reason, doesn't it?"

"... nope!"

"Name's Bruce by the way! So, you gonna buy shomethin or sit here jawin all day"

Jon was working hard on curing his dumbfoundedness and decided to give up.

"A Nord Man, long blonde hair and talkative, kinda brash and laughs loudly, his name is Jon Battle-Born, did he pass from here?"

"Wait… If it's rumors ya seek, then you have to pay first. A Nord by? Nah! Na words here! But somethin is tellin me ya looking for a sheila, brown hair, big arms, scary stare." The mudcrab talked and waved its pincers around.

"Wait! You mean Isha?"

"That's the one. She wanted to know how to go forward and where to find a large man like ya, didn't have much money on her! But I can tell ya where went… interested?"

"Yes… what's your price?"

"Ah! Be generous, ya bloody wanker."

"Okay, here you go." Jon took out ten Gold Septims.

"Ah! Shiny! Ya got yourself a deal… The lass went to the graveyard. She asked me about the gates up ahead and the Gatekeeper, I told her she needs a weapon made from the other Gatekeeper and pointed her to the graveyard that way… Of course, if she paid as much as ya, I'd have told her about the Shambles that roam the place."

The mudcrab said in a proud tone.

"Oh boy!"

Jon head started to hurt. Shambles are undead monsters made of bones and tied together with pieces of robes and leather to make some horrifying shapes of undead. He turned around and started walking towards the graveyard that the Mudcrab talked about.

"Hey… where're ya going. You have some change left, I can give ya anything ya fancy, a brekky, a barbie or a coldie, ya name it. Ya shouldn't go this crook without a coldie, hear me word. I've that Cyrodilic Brandy, fair dinkum tasty… I can fix ya brolly if it started rainin, it rains quite a lot honestly. No wucka's, whatever Bruce sells ya, it'll make ya happy… Ain't sayin? Fine, bugger off, dickhead."

Jon ignored the mudcrab and sped towards the direction he thought Isha was in. Nefertiti, who was on his shoulder all the time, spoke to him.

"Where is this place?"

"Oh! Forgot to tell you. Welcome to the Shivering Isles! This is the Fringe, the doorstep to the realm of Sheogorath and the World of Madness."

Chapter end