Jon's face turned pale once he saw that lady. Wulfur didn't expect to see Jon making such expression but he realized that the situation was something they should waste time on. If Jon, that walking magic cannon, can't deal with the situation, then the objective is to run.
"We are leaving." Wulfur shouted and knocked the door open.
Alina seemed to have calmed down and found something more covering to dress into. Once the ladies went out, they all saw the new visitors.
"Dr. Alina, I am sure we had an appointment. Are those people related to our business?" The woman on the lead of the group walked calmly towards Alina.
Wulfur notified Jull that Jon was in a pinch so she took action first. Putting her hands on the wall of the corridor, Jull applied her Aura and the wall was burst making a cloud of dust screen. Using the chance they have, Wulfur dragged the frozen Jon the whole group took the other way escaping.
"What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know, maybe this woman is something that can scare him."
"Such a thing exist?"
"Don't worry, Hooman. Will protect you."
On the other side of the wall, the woman with colored green eyes and blue lipstick smiled with viciousness at the rubble.
"I don't know what is that but get them."
To her words, all the men around her moved through the rubble.
***
Gunshots were heard throughout the campus as Wulfur led the team out, it was annoying how silent Jon was.
(Are you going to stay like that for too long?)
Jon heard Shadow's voice echoing into his head.
'What is going on, Shadow? This reality is taking too long to shift!'
(It seemed that your flawless performance in the past few reality shifts has vexed Vaermina enough to the point that she personally maintained the reality when she sniffed your fear.)
'What do you expect me to do? Didn't you see how that woman looked at me?'
(... as if she is going to carve you up and eat your liver!)
'So you felt it too!'
(Leave me alone.)
Even a being like Shadow was mentally affected by that look.
After some maneuvering, Jon managed to grab ahold of himself and started looking for a way out. According to what Vaermina said, she would wait for him in her temple at the center of her realm.
After some analysis, the Augur estimated that it should be at the highest or centermost point of the realm. With that in mind, Jon and his team managed to escape the W.I.T and chose to head south.
After some time, lightning finally flashed and reality shifted. Jon still chose to keep going as south as south can go, as he believed that they have strayed too far into the edges of Quagmire. What made him believe that he was wrong was how many times the reality in Quagmire started to shift, it started focusing on Jon's faked fears that were into his head and a lot of movies came out to life.
If Jon wasn't an otherworlder, he would have vomited from all the civilizations and reality shifts that were projected by the realm. Actually, Wulfur was the first one to start feeling sick, it wasn't normal at all to experience different realities which day and night weren't stable at all and all felt completely vivid. Jullanar and Alina also became sick but a zombie apocalypse train pushed them all back on track.
"Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Jurassic World, Mad Max… this realm is going all out the more we head south." Jon declared as he was supporting Alina up.
"What are all those nightmares? Are you alright, Jon? Do you really see all that when you sleep?" Alina wasn't sure how Jon is acting alright in these environments.
Jon didn't know whether to laugh or cry. None of them were his nightmares but the realm was really putting on a serious fight by projecting all these movies. There were even those situation gigantic walking Legos, being trapped in a train tunnel, and swimming with oversized sharks.
"It's okay. As long as we could finally bring you home, everything will be resolved just fine."
Alina felt touched by Jon's words. Jon then conjured three new Flame Hawk Atronachs and hopped on one with Alina while keeping her in his embrace.
"... What happened with father?" Alina asked.
"Since you four disappeared, things went really in a dramatic situation. Your father is okay but he was worried so much about you. We headed into the Tower of Dawn together and ventured to its inner sanctum. He was trying hard to keep calm and did some unreasonable things but eventually, we succeeded to get Vaermina's attention. From that point, I dived into Quagmire alone."
"I see… I am sorry to drag you into this." Alina got closer to Jon who didn't really mind it at all.
"I am already dragged without you doing anything."
Jon got closer to Alina who looked away after understanding what Jon had in mind. Even after looking away, Jon didn't seem to be going to stop anytime soon.
"You know, that dance you did a while ago… it was nice, especially that thing you did with the whip." Jon started reminding Alina of her short-lived career as a stripper.
Alina's face became even redder and she was struggling to break free from Jon to the edge of the Flame Atronach Hawk's body not even realizing that can she just conjure a new one and fly away.
"You know… old man Sigurd said that thing to me before I go into this realm. If I remember correctly, it was about him not being stingy with me anymore if I bring you home."
Alina opened her eyes wide and looked at Jon who was smiling with a smug face.
"So, what do you think about it? I was planning to attend a friend's wedding then take you around Skyrim, I can show you Riften and take you to that inn in Whiterun…"
At this point, Jon was taking his smug act on Alina. She, on the other hand, was thing thinking about what will happen when they go home no awareness of what was happening behind Jon.
Jullanar was glaring daggers at Jon, who was taking his way with Alina, she kept lashing with her Aura at him and he responded with his Aura back.
The comical scene was being seen by Wulfur who only sighed in reaction, he too was having some plans and was waiting to get out of this realm and invite Bjorna too.
During all that, the party advanced through Quagmire and reached a place where the nightmares stopped haunting people. Jon considered this the core area in Quagmire. Vaermina should be close now.
After trying to analyze the realm of Quagmire, Jon came to the conclusion that it is made of two areas, the Core and the Nightmare Planes.
The planes surrounded the core and were very vast and desolate lands not that Jon was seeing it from the core. A lot of souls were wandering around and also some mortals were present. It seemed that the place was a prison for those who got trapped in Quagmire.
The Core area was not as scary but it felt dangerous. Jon saw a lot of castles and buildings that seemed to be full of not to be messed with inhabitants. These were probably the Daedra that served Vaermina.
The place was overall dark and gloomy yet Jon knew that the only way out of Quagmire is in the centermost region of the core itself. The Temple of Vaermina.
After a short ride, Jon and his party arrived at a mountain that looked as straight as a blade, the place was suffocating to be into but the sharp road up the mountain was the only way to go there, even flying around felt reckless.
The sharp mountain seemed to be home to some creatures and a place where unpleasant Daedric ingredients grew, they were all property to the lord of the realm so Jon kept going straight up the road.
It was when he reached the highest point that he could see a large statue of the Daedric Prince Vaermina, it looked like a female mage who was hiding her face behind an evil looking mask, she was holding a strange staff in her left hand and two large snakes seemed to have climbed from the ground all the way to her arms.
This was the demonic and evil image is known about the Daedric Prince called Vaermina, the one whose sphere of influence includes nightmares, psychological terror and torment, dreams, bringing evil omens, and stealing memories.
Behind that statue was even a larger construct that carried a hint of the Roman architectural style with all the large pillars. Jon didn't dally around and advanced through these pillars followed by his party.
After bypassing the entrance, only a place of darkness was what greeted them, Jon could sense his way and guided the others in a straight line without feeling any danger, it kept going like that until they saw a glimpse of green light. Reaching that, all they could find was a large glass orb emitting unearthly sound with a green mist flowing around it, it was…
"The Orb of Vaermina! Wasn't this thing destroyed?" Jon was shocked silly when he saw the orb.
The Orb of Vaermina, named for its patron, was an orb apparently used for scrying, its ability was beyond sense as it could see anywhere and everywhere as long as the user knew what he or she was looking at. This was the favorite toy of Vaermina that she uses to spy on the mortal world and pick preys for her amusement.
This orb was used by Lord Naarifin to spy on Titus Mede II and his Legions during the Great War. The Orb was eventually removed from Naarifin by none other than Tyr Firemane and his friends on the cost of a grave injury that Tyr suffered that day. Jon later decided that it was stolen by the Daedric Prince Boethiah, an enemy of Vaermina, to use it for her own reasons.
Jon heard the tale from Tyr personally. But it still didn't make sense why would the orb by intact.
{It was destroyed indeed, but in the end and like everything that is mine, it will always return to me.}
A voice answered Jon's questions.
Jon looked around and saw the person that made him freeze once again.
(It is Vaermina, she took that form.)
'I know!'
Jon has realized that Vaermina took the form of Ava Lord to mess with him again.
With the darkness dispersing away, Jon could see clearly the face that gave him chills all over his spine.
Vaermina in that form walked while holding a staff in her hands, the Staff of Corruption.
***
Even while walking around casually, Vaermina was felt like a giant approaching Jon and his party.
Jon, who never viewed the Original Spirits as gods, for the first time in his life, understood why they were treated so.
The eldest of all races, the original race and the holders of the laws of power, Vaermina gave a lot of power just by being around, even though that was not the real her but only a fragment of the power the name Vaermina showed to those particular band of mortals.
No one moved a muscle. They all understood what was going on, even a cat like Nefertiti was just frozen solid.
{I see that a certain idealistic brother of mine has left something special on you… I see… How laughable though! For him and that demon to see eye to eye.}
Vaermina looked at the staff in her hand and it just disappeared.
{I wonder what sort of fun is yet to come! How many nightmares will I be watching from now on!}
Vaermina continued with her self-monologue. She then looked at Jon viscously.
{Make sure to spread lots of dreams with that little toy I left for you, Vaermina commands you.}
Jon could only nod.
Vaermina didn't seem to send Jon away as she started checking the people around him.
{What a bunch of misfits! Hmmm… interesting!}
Vaermina looked at Wulfur, Nefertiti, Jullanar and finally Alina. When her eyes landed on Alina, however, she noticed something.
Vaermina pointed her hands at Alina and something bizarre happened.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Followed by a painful scream from Alina, two things flew out from Alina's head.
"ALINA! NO!"
Jon's face paled and moved as fast as he could to catch the falling body of Alina. Once he caught her and looked at her face, he fell silent only looking back at Vaermina with a shocked face followed by an angry look.
Jullanar and Wulfur could see what happened to Alina's face.
Her two crimson eyes… they were taken by Vaermina.