"I know- I know how to find Alina and your friends." Sigurd whispered closely to my ears.
Sigurd words meant that something has gone pretty much different than what I expected.
The next words said by Sigurd made me understand that this is not the way things should have went anymore. From this point onward, I can only hope to save Alina and the rest on my own.
At that time, Erandur caught up to us.
"It... it worked. Mara be praised! You vanished after drinking the Torpor and materialized on the other side! I have never seen anything quite like it!" He started talking to the worn out Sigurd that didn't even bother to reply.
"Erandur, we can't waste time." I said to haste things up.
"Yes, Lord Jon. Let's go."
Erandur and I followed by Sigurd, who walked on his own pace, arrived at the last chamber in the inner sanctum of the temple. There was a boss battle when two powerful Priests of Vaermina were awakened and they were conscious to Erandur as they were his old friends. After putting them to their final rest, Erandur seemed heartbroken but I didn't care about that, we still had work to do.
Once we entered the last room, all three of us turned quiet. It was a circular room with an altar, on the altar was a staff and it was covered by a powerful barrier, that staff was the most infamous 'Skull of Corruption'.
Sigurd looked around the room for any last hope but he knew better, they are not in the tower anymore.
"Behold the Skull of Corruption, the source of Dawnstar's woes. We must destroy it." Erandur walked ahead.
"Wait, Erandur. My friends are nowhere to be seen." I said in a demanding tone.
Erandur looked at me with a complicated face.
"Lord Jon, I know your worry but please, destroying the skull is… it is the best way to avenge. They are within Vaermina's grasp now. You- You can't deal with Vaerm… Ugh!"
As Erandur was explaining, I threw a small dagger to his chest, Sigurd came from the back and stabbed him too.
"I am sorry." Sigurd apologized to the dead Erandur before laying his body on the ground.
We looked at each other as we understood what we just have done. Killing an innocent man while he was doing good in the name of divine like Mara, this won't end well for either of us.
"Now what?" I asked.
"We wait."
It was indeed like that.
When Sigurd entered the Dreamstride, Vaermina revealed to him the place where Alina, Jull, Wulf and Nefertiti were.
They were swallowed to Quagmire, the realm of Vaermina in Oblivion outside the Mortal Plane Mundus.
I don't know the details but it seemed that any intruder to Nightcaller Temple gets swallowed by Vaermina to Quagmire if they are not protected with the power of a Divine.
Luckily, both I and Sigurd wore our Amulets of Talos.
{Interesting!} A voice sounded in my head.
{The man was shown what he wanted to see and you believed him! You knew of something.}
The voice was that of a young female, it was slow and quiet but carried a lot of pressure and power.
It was her!
{What do you wish for more than what you already have?}
<WARNING! The Mind Barrier is being weakened!>
I see!
"I want my friends, the one you took, back."
{And what can you offer in return?}
The voice was strong and it almost enchanted my mind but I had some functional resistance working against it.
"That staff! I will take it too." I pointed at the Skull of Corruption inside its barrier.
{... You want to take your friends and take my staff? Is that what mortals consider an offer?}
The voice seemed to be pressuring me even more.
"Do I really need to explain? I will have fun with the staff to my heart content." I replied at her while trying to withstand the pressure to the best of my ability.
'Augur! Do you hear me?'
<I am busy here!>
'Release the protection on some of the memories regarding conflict and destruction. Let's show her something good!>
(Are you sure about that?)
'Shadow? What do you want?'
(Vaermina is not a Daedra you'd want to offend. She is has a very curious personality and would deg you inside out if we let the wrong memory slip. I will handle which memories we can allow out.)
<Acknowledged!>
The Augur and Shadow started working together for some reason.
'Wait, you two are best buddies now?'
(Whatever you do, don't lose focus! We will follow your pace and cover you up with the best memories when Vaermina tries to read your mind.)
'Okay! I'll leave you to it.'
I don't know what will those two do but it is good to have some incorporeal friends when you need them.
Back to Vaermina.
{Interesting! I see… potential.}
Her voice echoed in my head once again, I am relieved that Shadow can operate hidden from a Daedric Prince such as Vaermina but let's focus on her now.
{Fine, I allow you to claim the Skull for your own. But as for your friends… why don't you get them out yourself?}
Vaermina said something scary.
I understand what she means but to take them out! Is she trying to drag me too?
{Use the Torpor, come and I will let you take them home!}
<WARNING! Taking the Tarpor my threaten the Mind Barrier!>
(I too suggest against it!)
This is bad! My head is now a conference room for weird voices. It is not fun at all.
'Augur, Shadow, let's keep the memory flow as what we already achieved, I am not sure what will happen but I will need your head to analyze whatever Illusions I am about to see.'
<Acknowledged!>
(Good plan!)
The plan is now changed from guarding against Vaermina is to coping with whatever she will throw at me.
I grasped the Torpor bottle in my hand and removed the led, I was a bit worried but I made my mind.
"Boy, let me do it! This… you can't!" But Sigurd had to ruin the mood.
"Seriously, old man! Don't be a drama queen now."
"... Don't be what?"
"Look, I have dealt with FDVR before, you don't need to worry, just watch over my body, will you?"
Old Man Sigurd shook his head and sighed.
"You and your father are very much alike…"
"I am more handsome dammit!" Couldn't help but retort.
"Alright boy, I wish you luck! If you surv… When you get out with Alina, I won't be stingy with you."
"Oh!" Seems like I am being promised something here. Well, that's the best encouragement he can give me but I am sure he will come to regret it.
"I am off… cheers!" And I put the bottle on my mouth and started drinking the not very tasty thing.
{You drank it! I am impressed, Mortal. What makes you think I won't trap you too?} Vaermina said something scary.
"I don't know, I guess you are not Boethiah to do something sinister like that. Am I not your champion candidate now?"
{How daring! To sum me with the likes of Boethiah… yet you raise a point!}
To counter any dirty scheme Vaermina would come up with, I had to mention Boethiah, the Lord of Plots, Deceiver of Nations. Vaermina and Boethiah are arch-enemies so this will make her change her mind.
{But, you have to make it to my temple at the highest point you can see… I will be waiting, mortal!}
Vaermina left me with those words and the Torpor kicked in, I felt like my head is light then it all became dark.
***
<This was reckless!>
{I know, right? The kid is really outdoing himself again.}
"I can hear you, little voices in my head."
<There is that what you need to know, Vaermina state that she will wait for you to find your lost comrades in wherever she is taking us to and then come to her temple.>
"I guess we have a solid objective for once now. Wait, what do you mean us?"
<I purposely replaced my Astral Extension with my original self.>
"Damn! Now I need to supply you with my Magicka."
<Please don't be disheartened.>
(Kid, that thing you said to Vaermina just now about Boethiah, that was one daring move.)
"We have a chance thanks to it."
(From what I can tell, we are making it to Quagmire.)
"That's my first time in Oblivion for me guys!"
<It won't be the last.>
"So gloomy!"
(Just know that Quagmire will try to deceive you by showing you what horrifies you the most, it will be mostly hallucination but don't die to it. Hallucination and Reality in Quagmire are the same thing!)
"Yep, nothing new!"
(Also, Vaermina is always very curious, that's why she always looks into people dreams. The reason she made the release of your friends possible is that she knows that some of your memories are sealed, we can resist her interference in Nirn but in her domain, we will have to gradually leak out your horrors bit by bit.)
"Don't worry, Jon Dare doesn't fear shit."
(One more thing, Every few minutes, there will be a flash of lightning, this will means that reality around you will shift.)
<Texts stated that monsters and horrifying scenes will overlap during those flashes but I am curious about what fear will manifest with that mindset of yours.>
(Me too as well.)
"You are hitting it really well, guys. Should I open you some mead and bring some popcorn?"
(Much appreciated!)
Shadow kept mocking me all the time and the Augur added salt on my wounds endlessly, all of that was happening as I was in some sort of unconscious state while dreamstriding to Quagmire with two smartass passengers in my head.
Once I started feeling myself again, I found myself in the least situation I predicted.
***
It felt like a car but everything was dark and it felt like a tight place. After trying to move, I discovered I was tied up really tight.
The fuck! Tied up from the very beginning? Also when my vision adapted to darkness, I recognized the place a large car trunk and there were three people stuffed in there with me.
One of them noticed my movements and spoke to me.
"Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the checkpoint, right? Walked right into that police ambush, same as us, and that car thief over there."
Wait... What?!