themonasnovels Chapter 738: Apocrypha’s Basement
Chapter 738: Apocrypha’s Basement
Chapter 738: Apocrypha’s Basement
Hey, friends. I’ve read an interesting piece of lore that I found a few days ago. Apparently, there is a new Daedric Prince in the Lore, Ithelia.
Apparently, she is the opposite of Hermaeus Mora but not in a fun way. Her titles are the Prince of Paths, the Mistress of the Untraveled Road, the Unseen, and the Fate-Changer. She supposedly had the ability to shape destiny, alter fate and rearrange its strands according to her whim. Considering this power a threat to the order of the universe, Hermaeus Mora erased all traces of her memory from existence in order to preserve reality. Her realm is called Mirrormoor.
This piece of lore was added in some recent trailer for a DLC in ESO and I am not that keen on adding any aspect of it to the story here since I am finalizing it all in my roadmap with no room for expansion. As for my personal opinion, the names Itheila and Mirrormoor scream Tolkin fan in my head.
All in all, the new canon lore aspects have gone hand in hand with the aspects. Oblivion is an infinite realm with all sorts of possibilities that aren’t limited to the 16 Daedric Princes, check. There is a possibility that there are Daedric Princes that nobody knows about, check. And reality can be whatever the writer wants at this point, check.
Enjoy the chapter since I had fun screwing shit too.
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He wasn’t sure how this happened but as he opened his eyes, he knew it was troublesome.
"Oh no!"
Neloth was about to pull out the hairs of his head but too bad he was bald.
The floor he stood on was made of parchment paper and old book covers, the walls around him were made of stacked up stinking old books, and the sky above him was covered in green anomalies infested with squirming tentacles.
The profile matches someplace he wasn’t very keen on visiting this time of day.
Apocrypha!
However, this begs the question, how did he get here?
Neloth could vaguely remember but he is too embarrassed to admit that he fell to the oldest trick in the book, the Mousetrap.
This goes back to the time when Neloth and Jon were exploring Nchardak together. As two Arch-Wizards with a considerable degree of power and fame, the two were overly confident they could breeze through this ruin without a hitch of difficulty.
Sadly for them, their enemy was relying on their overconfidence.
As Neloth decided to stay behind in the control room, while leaving Jon to do all the legwork, his eyes caught a glimpse of something he couldn’t imagine to even exist without him knowing.
A Black Book!
A tome of power was right there lying not too far from him in a section of the ruins he was sure he had explored before.
But another Black Book... Here? How?
Neloth’s mind raced to the answer but his curious Dunmeri feet were faster than his mind could think as he found himself standing in front of the Black Book as it opened by itself and swallowed him whole.
This was no regular Black Book, this was a portal to Apocrypha fashioned in the shape of the Black Book and it was designed to capture unsuspecting and greedy scholars.
He surely knew something like that existed but it was just a miscalculation on his part to fall into such an obvious mousetrap... or that’s what he kept telling himself.
A Telvanni Wizard is a lot of things but a pushover is not what you can call one. Neloth, above all, considered himself to be a sophisticated gentleman and this kind of trap has already hurt his pride way more than any insult.
He’s now out for blood.
The location where Neloth was sent to was certainly not a known location on Apocrypha and just like most of Apocrypha, it was surrounded by great seas of ink corrosive ink and had many pathways made of the usual apocryphal environment.
Oh... and there was an endless number of Seekers and Lurkers surrounding him as well.
"For Dagon’s sake, piss off already." Neloth transformed a ring around his right thumb into a staff and as he hit the ground with it, a large fire circle was cast and it ate away all those Daedric Creatures.
However, the Seekers and Lurkers kept coming back in larger numbers from the endless sea of ink.
Neloth wiped out the daedra again and again and again but it seemed that the point of this place is for them to keep spawning endlessly. A daedra can’t practically die and in due time, it will keep coming back to life from the Chaotic Creatia of its mother realm.
Neloth wanted to end this so he moved the fighting location multiple times in order to find a way out. That proved to him that the chapter (island) he landed on doesn’t lead anywhere and is simply a trap for him to fight until his bitter end.
Neloth took out a few soul gems, put them on the ground, and cast a rune before centering a staff on top of it. He made the staff act like a spell turret as he kept analyzing the situation around him.
He was trying to aim for a different chapter outside of this one but he was too isolated. Since he can’t travel through the sea of ink, he started thinking of a different way of taking action. He searched for any Daedric creature across a hundred miles radius and as soon as he found one, he took his staff, levitated, and teleported away.
Neloth didn’t want to put himself in a bad situation but if there is a Daedric Creature, there is a Daedric land. Simple logic, really. That’s why he teleported as high and at a safe distance as he could scout his situation first.
Neloth thought it would be a regular Daedra but as he saw what he saw, he started to sweat nervously.
This wasn’t a Daedra he could recognize and he can recognize almost every daedric creature out there.
As for this one, it was simply huge and not a thing he ever met before or wanted to meet in the near or far future ever again.
It was large, as stated earlier, but almost to the point where it can rival the Numidium itself. Above all, it had an octopus-like head, large dragon-like wings, and a humanoid body that towered over the sea of ink.
Say what you want about such a creature but Neloth could swear it is the worst thing he ever laid his eyes on. Thankfully, the creature ignored Neloth completely and then it spoke a word in a terrible terrible voice that made Neloth suffer from a splitting headache.
"GNAIIH" The creature called once and raised his hand which had someone tied to it.
"Oh... Shit!"
Neloth could see the man in the hand of that colossal Daedric thing and it was none other than Jon Dare.
He was in the worst shape Neloth could imagine. He had a hole in his chest where his heart was supposed to be and he was not in any of his gear. Rather, he was covered in an ink-like substance that covered his lower half, his arms, and the upper half of his head.
Once the creature’s arm was up, something appeared midair like a cluster of goat-eye-like bubbles that felt wretched like the abyss and it stared at Jon.
A voice came from the wretched abyss, deep, changing, slow, ancient, and unfathomable.
"Tell me your secret... speak them to me... hide nothing from me..."
The Wretched Abyss, which was obviously Hermaeus Mora, demanded an answer but Jon remained as responsive as a corpse.
HE MUST!
HE!
MUST!
READ!
THE!
WORDS!
The words laid themselves bare for him, like a maiden of exquisite beauty, he can’t resist her lure.
He wanted not to read but he must.
He wanted not to gaze but he must.
He wanted not to look but he must.
He wanted not to recognize the words but he must.
"He must! He reads the words! He witnessed the heart of the Apocrypha! The closely guarded secret of the Daedric Princes.
The Child!
He who slumbers, he who dreams, he who sees.
Hail to the Child!
Hail to the Unborn King!
Bane of the Dreamer!
Knower of Every Kalpa!
Hail Son of Mora!
Hail to the Forgotten who Never Forgets.
Hail Lord of Oblivion!
Hail Heir of all Princes!
Hail..."
*CRUSH*
And the wall was crushed under the mighty hand of the One.
It was there all along.
Neloth couldn’t believe it.
The darkness was his, the terror was his, the sadness, the anger, the rage, the madness.
It was all his!
Neloth was simply the parasite here.
And he will be purged.
Neloth looked up and saw the fist of the Child of Hermaeus Mora rise up. It lightens the space with its aura as the words and letters scatter around frantically and it descends upon him and...
Silence!
Neloth was already closing his eyes but demise never came.
He opened them once again and all he could see was Lightning as a man stood behind him and held the giant fist up with his bare hands.
"Excuse him but you shouldn’t have called." The naked man, who was clad in green ink and had a hole in his chest, said.
"J... Jon?" Neloth looked and couldn’t believe what he saw.
"I am supposed to be but lucky for us, I am not Jon Dare at the moment." The man replied and looked up, "Let me put him back to sleep now."
The Child of Hermaeus Mora retreated his fist while looking down at the place where he hit.
His eyes were emitting fiery light as they started to multiply all across his octopus-like head and the tentacles of his face were acting ferociously.
At that moment, the man who was supposed to be Jon walked ahead.
"Hey, friend!" He smiled at the Child of Hermaeus Mora and asked, "Want me to sing you another lullaby?"
The furious atmosphere around the Child didn’t retreat but he gave the man the opportunity to speak. There, he started singing a song with a tone that brings chills to whoever hears it despite its natural words. The Child of Hermaeus Mora calmed down and lowered his fist.
"Bal, Azura, Mora, and Dagon, Curse the bed that I lie on."
"Four corners to my bed, Four Deadras around my head."
"One to strangle and one to flay, And two to trap my soul away."
And Apocrypha went silent and calm.
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A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ?? novelhall.com or Google "Donovel Linktree’’ ??