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SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is largely based on the events that occurred in an actual game of Skyrim I played. Therefore, it's inevitably a spoiler.
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previous day
4-202-04-14 04:51
Bandit Camp, east of Oakwood, Falkreath, Skyrim
We go to Aulbryn's house and travel once again to Dreamborne Isle
We have a wash in the ocean. It's dawning while we run towards the enormous "temple" in the northwest.
This time, we cross the bridge. Near the main entrance of the so-called temple is a door with an unpickable lock. Inside the huge temple complex itself which, as you may remember, is utterly unnavigable, Bardslayer gives me the ability to float in the air, thanks to which I find the Forest Keystone.
Walking normally from then on, I reach a huge statue of a female deity (Auriel??).
Nearby is a door through which I exit the compound.
There are rocky hills and some trees and much water. Ponds, waterfalls, a river... and a house not far.
I'm suddenly having a vision of cities bigger than any I've ever seen, but without people, stone walkways on various levels connecting houses with no doors. Realizing the girls are still in the Woodpeak Temple waiting for me, I go back inside.
While I'm floating to where I left them, I ask myself once again what are we doing in this crazy maze, trying to solve some cryptic puzzles way over our heads. Why am I exposing my followers to extreme danger instead of just enjoying the amazing beauty in the area where the portal to Skyrim is? Why stick my nose into things that mean nothing to me?
I know what Lydia would say: because I'm hoping to come across something that is actually interesting. Such as those cities I just mentioned, only with actual people on the streets I can talk to. Come to think of it, they may well be there. What I saw was only a vision which may have been designed just for the purpose of convincing me there was no point in proceeding because there was nothing but disappointment to be found.
Yeah, I know I'm not making much sense right now.
Having returned to my followers, I suggest we sit down and discuss what to do.
Maybe try to find the last Keystone, suggests Jenassa. With all three in our possession, we might be led to some more knowledge.
Yes, that makes sense. But where can it be? There is no mention of it in the notes we have picked up on this island, and even Bardslayer has no idea where it could be hidden.
Our best option seems to be to return to the place south of the bridge with the shrine and the unopenable door. Perhaps there's something that gives us a clue. Apart from which, it's really the only place to go... yeah, apart from that fire cave. Well, never mind my gabbing, I'm just getting annoyed not knowing what to do. So let's go!
We examine more closely that shrine-like platform in beautiful blue color which we saw yesterday. It has three pedestals not unlike the ones I took those Keystones from. I try to place the two Keystones I have onto them. I mean, they are Key stones and there's a locked door nearby.
Indeed, the oblong stones fit onto two of the pedestals. By "fit" I mean they remain hanging above that glow and the girls and I experience a strong feeling of calm and satisfaction, like one has when things are the way they're supposed to be.
The third one is missing, of course.
Lydia timidly asks to talk to me in private. I try not to look amused and we walk away a little.
"Do you remember when we slept together and had the same dream?" she asks.
She obviously means that slave auction thing. Of course I remember. You don't forget a dream like that .
Lydia tells me gingerly that the last time we slept in the same bed – I think it was four nights ago – she had a dream where there was a mysterious mansion. The events are blurry, but she remembers vividly a scene in the midst of various bodies of water. There was a strange mountain or tower hundreds of meters high, or at least tens of meters, and I was standing on top of it in front of something glowing gently. Lydia didn't tell me about the dream before, because she didn't attribute any significance to it, but now she realizes that mansion looked very much like the one on this island where we couldn't get in, and that glowing thing looked similar to those pedestals here.
This is incredible. Now Lydia is even having prophetic visions on my behalf! I feel like throwing our clothes off and getting into a warm soft bed with her, being one with her, breathing in the same rhythm and thinking the same thoughts with our naked bodies entangled.
Lydia seems to guess what I'm thinking, and makes a practical and sensible suggestion to return to Jordis and Jenassa.
We now run to that Riverbed... I mean, Riverhead Manor and go through one of those cheaty doors that lead us into a pond between house walls. This time, instead of trying the other doors, we follow the waterway into the open. There are indeed further ponds and streams, and a structure very high without any evident way of getting there.
I can't bear the thought of spending heaven knows how many frustrated hours in another Wookpeak-Temple-style maze, so I just ask Bardslayer to let me float in the air. I fly to that structure and yes, there the Water Keystone is.
That fake mansion looks even more impressive from this side.
After we've returned to the shrine and placed the Water Keystone onto the last pedestal, the metal gate up the staircase opens. Behind it is a portal to a place called Elysian Ascent. It sounds something that has to do with the dead... or maybe not. Never mind.
We go through the portal and end up in the midst of very much green splashing water descending from extremely high waterfalls that seem to be everywhere around us.
We quickly run forward until we reach a somewhat drier place. There are high near-vertical rock walls on both sides, but we can also see some Dwemer-style structures above us, and, considering this place is called Elysian Ascent , it is not entirely unreasonable to presume there must be a way that leads up there.
This looks like it:
... not!
Nothing but small niches on all three sides.
Places get increasingly drier and eventually we reach a staircase.
Less than half an hour later, we are indeed at great elevation:
On top, there's a door to a place called Ter'Avina – The Crater City.
Now, this city is unlike any city I've ever seen.
I mean, what would you call a muddy coast with many small wooden boats, a few burning things and no humans in sight, let alone buildings? Jenassa says those burning things look like funeral pyres. Maybe so, but there are no dead bodies in them.
Behind us are steep rocky mountains, so we start walking clockwise along the shore. After a quarter of an hour or so, we see a structure at a distance, as well as more boats between it and us, some of them in a very bad shape.
We approach a large wooden canopy in front of a small wooden house. Under the canopy sits a quite good-looking man.
His name is Wilhelm and he's like "Oh, you finally turned up too," and "Go and talk to the captain." This is weird, but, um, all right, we'll go and see if there's a captain somewhere ahead.
We walk past the house and there are more quite normal-looking village houses. Their doors have unusual locks I can't pick. And then we reach the harbor where a beautiful ship lies partially under the water.
There's a man with a big beard and an air of authority walking back and forth on the pier and looking unhappily at the ship.
I ask him if he's the captain. "Wow, you really don't remember anything, do you?" he replies, and explains me concisely and clearly how "our" ship called Sandomer was on its way from Solitud to Morrowind and got attacked by several dragons. The ship was heavily damaged and some of the crew killed.
Yes, a strange island indeed. At least as far as people are concerned. I mean, both that Wilhelm guy and now this Captain Valkus are obviously recognizing me. I ask cautiously how I ended up on his ship. Fortunately, Valkus seems to have full understanding for my apparent memory loss and tells me I joined them some time ago in Windhelm. I scrubbed the decks to pay my dues, he says. Then he asks if I have seen Lorcano, by any chance. I say I haven't. Valkus says we must do everything in our power to find him. Weird in his head as Lorcano may be, he knows more about this region, as well as about the dragons, than any of us, and is therefore our best hope of figuring out a way of defending us against those dragons who might attack us again at any moment.
I wonder what kind of dues my doppelgaenger was supposed to have had to pay. Don't tell me she was, like, bought in Windhelm to render certain services to the crew. I dare not ask Valkus. I just suggest I'll go and see if I can track down Lorcano. Valkus has no objections.
We can see more buildings farther ahead – common wooden houses as well as Dwemer structures. The weather has gotten very hot. There are men here and there who nod to me like an old buddy and take no notice whatsoever of my followers. I'm a little wary of them at first, but when I strike up a conversation with two who are sitting near a campfire, they tell me they're trying to find a house that can be entered, so they wouldn't have to spend the night in open air. If I'm hungry, I'd better head for the Common House, they say. And they suggest I keep my eyes open for Lorcano – maybe he has survived the disaster after all.
The girls and I walk in the direction the men pointed out. This is really weird. Is there something on the island that makes people crazy? Or am I crazy? I can't have been on that ship, because during the last weeks I have been traveling with Lydia, Jordis and Jenassa in Bruma, Skyrim and Solstheim, have I not? The girls assure me I have and I'm not crazy. It's the sailors who are confused about my identity.
We notice a door leading to something called Lost Archive, but that sounds much less appealing than Common House. So we just walk on, exchanging hellos with more men wandering about here and there.
And then we reach the door to the Common House.
Now, whoever made up that name is obviously mad. Ter'Avina – The Crater City turned out to be a city all right, but "Common House" is simply a section of that city with many houses. Speaking of which, Ter'Avina is really big. It's incomparably larger than Solitud, Hviterun or Bruma. The more a shame is it that there is no sign of any local population. Just the unfortunate members of the Sandomer's crew looking for food and such.
Next to a high stone building with large windows, we notice a wooden house whose door is actually wide open. Inside is a bed, on which lies a badly injured man. His name is Eldan and his brother Malvin is taking care of him as well as he can.
Lorcano? Where is he?
Oh, he went somewhere in that direction, Malvin replies casually. He implores me to find Lifegiver and bring him some of its miraculous water. I've no idea where it may be, but I promise I'll do what I can. From what the captain told me, this island doesn't seem to be all that big. It's only 1 o'clock, so we have several hours of daylight left to explore it.
Nearby are some more high stone buildings, between which is a courtyard full of water.
Wading through it, we reach a nice bower with a table and benches. There's a man named Greagor who seems to have found some food. Um, no, no food, just mead. He is unhappy. These few bottles won't last long and the ship's mead supply is almost exhausted, he explains, as one of the dragons carried a large keg of it away during yesterday's attack. He seemed to fly to the mountains south of here. Greagor beseeches me to go and find it and bring it back.
I'm not sure he's not pulling my leg. At any rate, he's clearly drunk.
The girls and I return to dryland. After some walking around, we find tents and bedmats under one of those Dwemer things. At least we'll now have a place to sleep.
Further west, we discover a neighborhood called Business District, just as desolate as the rest of this city. There are stairways going up and we walk past several doors leading to Scy'llaran Marketplace.
A more interesting find is a man with a knotted beard reading a book in one of those cozy corners in sunshade that are plentiful here.
This man seems to have more sense than the others, or maybe the air is less crazy-making up here. What I'm talking about is he's the first one who doesn't recognize me, as well as the first one to notice I'm not alone. He introduces himself as Lorcano and invites us politely to sit down and talk – if we're not too busy.
He says he's most happy to have found Ter'Avina, because it's reputed to have been the home to "an ancient sky-people" a long time ago. People who had the ability to fly. They were called the Scy'llara – if he has translated correctly, of which he's not quite sure.
Well, speaking of Scy'llara, there's something called Scy'llaran Marketplace right next door, and earler we saw something called Lost Archive, I inform him. I mean, evidently Lorcano has never been here before, but he's a scholar, so maybe he knows something.
Lorcano says the scraps of information he's been able to find suggest that there may be a magical artifact that could help him decipher the Scy'llaran language. He doesn't know where exactly it would be, but Lost Archive sounds as good a place as any for the location of such an object.
What else may be in there and how safe or dangerous it could be, he, regrettably, doesn't know. He's only halfway through this book's introduction. It's very tedious work, because he can understand only small bits of the language. There are several more books on the shelf nearby. I take a look at one, but I can't read a single letter.
I inform Lorcano that the captain is looking for him because they need to figure out how to open those house doors and what to do about the dragons. Lorcano nods and says he's hoping to learn something from these books here. I'm rather having the feeling he's a lot keener to find out about the bird-people than helping the crew, but I'm keeping that thought to myself. I just thank Lorcano for the interesting conversation and suggest I go and check out that marketplace with the girls. He says it's a good idea and by the way he found this key on his way up here and I can take it, maybe it'll unlock something.
Excellent! I really like this man. If only he would get rid of that silly knotted beard!
We enter Scy'llaran Marketplace by the nearest door. Now, guess whether or not it's a marketplace.
Why, of course not! This is just another district of the city.
Strangely enough, it's dark as if it was night – albeit very well lighted by various kind of lanterns. There are big Dwemer-style houses, but much of the territory is covered by stony ground and shrubs and such. I'm greatly amused to find a few actual market stalls scattered around this huge area, but its hallmark are countless walkways at widely varying elevations, not unlike the ones in the Woodpeak "Temple". And they are just as chaotic and unnavigable.
I am most certainly not in the mood of spending the rest of the evening and possibly the night on frustrated attempts of trying to find anything in here, so Bardslayer lets us float in the air. I feel there might be something interesting on the highest level, so we head there. Indeed we find a grating that surrounds something called Sealed Portal . Curiously enough, the key I got from Lorcano opens the door. Stepping closer to the portal, we learn that it can take us to Lost Archive.
I guess we'll go and check the place out. After the "Temple" that is not a temple, the "House" that is not a house and the "Marketplace" that is not a marketplace, I hardly expect the Lost Archive to be an archive, but I don't fancy hanging around in this un-Marketplace either.
So we step through the portal.
Sure enough, this is another neighborhood of Ter'Avina.
Unlike the so-called Marketplace, it has perfectly normal, um, afternoonlight. Lost Archive is more or less at one and the same elevation and consists of an unoverseeable network of streets, maybe a little on the narrow side, full of houses even more beautiful than in other parts of Ter'Avina. And not a living soul anywhere. We wander around some and finally someone of us thinks of looking upwards.
There's a big structure high above us. Walking around some more, we realize that it's floating in the air, not connected to the ground.
Lorcano said the thing we're looking for would be in a place out of reach, says Lydia.
He did?
She nods.
Evidently the structure up there is meant to be accessed by one of those portals that can be seen here and there. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing where one or another portal would take you, so we'd have to try them one after another and remember which connects to where and hope to eventually hit the right sequence of portals that transports us to our destination. I am most certainly not putting myself though such screamingly crazy nonsense. Bardslayer lets me float up.
I'm halfway there. These plates float in the air. If you are lucky enough to find a portal
that takes you to the place where they begin, you can probably get to the top by jumping from one plate to another
(and maybe occasionally fall down and have to start all over again – as long as you're lucky enough
to be wearing an armor with the enchantment that prevents the fall from killing you.)
that takes you to the place where they begin, you can probably get to the top by jumping from one plate to another
(and maybe occasionally fall down and have to start all over again – as long as you're lucky enough
to be wearing an armor with the enchantment that prevents the fall from killing you.)
Indeed, there's a large structure up there made of dwarven metal and beautiful greenish-gray stone.
In the middle of it is a large pedestal, on top of which is a cube-shaped object named Ancient Record. I pick it up and jump down to the ground.
The girls and I walk around a little more and enjoy the sights. Well, in fact we're trying to remember where the door to the so-called Scy'llaran Marketplace was.
I must confess I'm fighting back tears looking at this fairytale city. What has happened here? We must tell the jarls about Ter'Avina and have it resettled. It breaks my heart to see all those adorable houses that don't have anyone to give shelter to.
Maybe Jarl Korir will want to settle down here? Or at least send some colonists over. I'm sure there won't be a shortage of volunteers wanting to leave Winterhold Hold.
Back in the Scy'llaran Marketplace.
The thing is, Dreamborne Isle may be outside our world (because it has that blue non-sun), but this island certainly isn't, because Captain Valkus said clearly they had been traveling between High Rock, Windhelm and Morrowind. Which means Ter'Avina must be accessible from those places by sea. One doesn't have to use those portals and travel via Dreamborne Isle. The island hadn't simply been discovered until now. I mean, when those experienced sailors didn't know about it, chances are no other outsiders do. Maybe whoever landed here earlier was killed by those very dragons from yesterday.
"All that's great, but let's not forget there's something here that makes people crazy," says Jenassa. "What with all those seamen insisting they know you and evidently not seeing us."
Yeah, I know. I'll talk to Sybille about this. Or maybe even Erandur. He has experience with that sort of things. There must be a way to get around this craziness. After all, it hasn't affected Lorcano. And us, I daresay.
It's already dark by the time we arrive back in the main section of Ter'Avina.
Looking for Lorcano, I notice a door to something called Grand Starchamber. We take a quick peek inside. There's a round fountain-like object splashing something of horrible poison-green color into the air. Behind it is a staircase that leads to a closed grating shaped like a magical symbol. Around the "fountain" are buttons of that same ghastly green color. I've no idea what they do and I couldn't care less. I'll rather fight another group of those fire monsters than explore this here.
On second thought: no, that was an exaggeration. But this is a ghastly place.
We find Lorcano – and it pains me greatly that I end up sorely disappointed in him. Having deciphered almost all of that book's introduction in the meantime, he now puts me through an incredibly long, incredibly sick rant. Something about equality and love destroyed by greed. The gist of his ramblings is that there's some kind of a source of unimaginable energy and wisdom somewhere on this island, and the Scy'llara, the bird-people, were researching it carefully and harnessing its power to build this amazing city and create a happy and harmonious society and even change the climate, something similar to what was done by someone else in some other way in Falskaar. They began to allow traders from the mainland to visit the harbor we saw. For some time, everything went well, but then somehow a cruel war broke out between the natives and the newcomers. Seeing no end to the terrible bloodshed, a part of the Scy'llara dug in some more into that unimaginably powerful thing, and succeeded in putting an end to the war, but at a terrible price – they turned themselves into monsters and killed everyone on the island, friend and foe alike. It happened ages ago, which is why it's all been forgotten about in the outside world. But it's possible that those fierce defenders still exist. For that matter, they could well be those dragons from yesterday.
Um... so is this where the dragons originate from? That flies in the face of a vast amount of legends and historical records. Lorcano agrees that it sounds very unbelievable. Maybe the Scy'llara are merely controlling a number of dragons. He needs to do a lot more research before he can say anything substantial.
Right! Research. I almost forgot. I inform Lorcano I found this cube in the Lost Archive. Is this what he's been looking for?
His face lights up. He takes the cube. I'm not sure what is it he's doing with it, but it looks like he's reading his book through it. Then he exclaims this is exactly what he's been looking for. It's some kind of a universal translator. He was facing the uninviting prospect of spending a lifetime deciphering just one book, but with the help of this he can actually read them as normal!
Lorcano hugs me (my followers escape in time) and throws himself at his bookshelf like a hungry wolf at a hare. We don't exist for him anymore.
The girls and I, we spend considerable time locating those tents with bedmats in near-darkness.
This is just another weird location we discovered along the way. I couldn't get out quickly enough.
next awakening
