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*6 days until the Battle of Winterhold*
Two chairs, one room, a dremora hanged from the wall by a cat, a vampire girl and a human boy.
"Weird, right?"
"… Yeah."
The boy and the girl looked at each other. The boy was not that curious but the girl was trying to point something out about the boy… something clearly unusual.
"Is it the face?" The boy pointed to the left side of his face, "I know it is a bit damaged but is it what is bothering you?"
"Wha…? No! I mean… you look much better than lesser vampires."
"Oh! Good? So is it how handsome I am?" The boy pointed to the undamaged side of his face.
"No… you look good though despite… you know… the damage."
"Oh, thanks. So… is it my choice of music? I like Mozart whenever I am torturing someone… Actually, I like Mozart whenever I am doing anything."
"I'll pretend I know what is that."
"Good call… so, to what do we owe the pleasure?"
"Noting actually… I just wanted to see you. Father said you are the one who located me… in one day. I was just checking about you. You managed to find the other Elder Scroll?"
Jon looked at the eyes of Serana and hummed.
"I see… no, not at all."
"Oh! I was thinking that…"
"That I will find your mother as fast as I found you?"
"..."
"You don't want that?" Jon asked.
Serana started avoiding eye contact and looked for words to say.
"You are afraid, or maybe angry." Jon kept going. "What your mother did. What your mother and father will do when they see each other. How this is going to affect you. I get it. You are scared of the future."
Serana stopped avoiding eye contact and looked at Jon.
"I would choose my words rather carefully if I were you."
"Oh! Scary… I beat you once. I don't mind doing it again." Jon said with a grin. "Now enough with mind games. Let's talk about real business."
She felt a bit bitter under his gaze but it wasn't that bad. His words made absolute sense as if there was some strange effect on her.
"What is there to talk about? Your business is with my father."
"Oh! But you are wrong, cute little fangs. My real business is with no one here other than you."
"... Cute little fangs?"
"You are totally missing the point here."
"No, I am taking it one at a time." Serana started to get annoyed, "And what business can you have with someone you met for the first time?"
"Simple." Jon pulled the chair closer to Serana, "I need your help and you need mine."
"... Help?"
"Exactly."
"What kind of help?"
"As I said, the kind you need." Jon said and explained. "You don't want me to find your mother, right? I can do that."
Serana looked to Jon right in the eye.
"You… are you aware of what you are saying?"
"Very. This is why I picked this room for example. It is the room with the least amount of Gargoyles stationed around which means your father, the Lord of this 'Domain', can't fully spy on us."
Serana jumped from her chair and backed away.
"What are you… why do you know too many things?" She wasn't feeling okay in front of Jon, "You know about how I feel, about my mother and you know that my father watches everything in the castle by the Gargoyles?"
She thought he was just a capable human with high fighting abilities that she can surpass when her powers are fully stable but that was not the case. Something was not right.
More than that, she was trying to feel threatened. She couldn't get it. There was a limiter to his danger sense around Jon, a suppressor, something making her less wary of him.
A seduction? Seducing a vampire? Was that even possible?
She felt it.
She heard that he was impossible to be enthralled for some reason even when her father tried to do it. Maybe it was the effect of the Prophecy of his or maybe he was the keeper of the Mace of Molag Bal but that wasn't the case as it seemed.
He has an influence that is even higher than a Vampire Lord?
Impossible! When did it even happen?
Jon saw the confusion on her face and stood up, took his chair back, sat down and pointed for her to sit.
"You see… I am not really into Vampirism or any of that. Just like you, I want out of this mess." He said.
"You… don't want to be a vampire? But the deal between you and father was… you help him and you become one of us."
Jon shook his head.
"The thing is about me is I cultivate my Essence Energy which is located in the Soul so I can get more powerful both physically and magically. Vampirism takes the Essence-Energy of the Soul and trades it with another kind of Energy from the patron of all vampires, Molag Bal. To cure Vampirism, one needs a Black Soul Gem which contains the Essence of a Normal Mortal and switches that Essence with the Vampiric Essence which makes the Vampirism go away. The thing about me is that if I became a Vampire, I will lose all the Essence that I cultivated so far and that includes the power that comes with it. I will be rendered useless if I ever become a Vampire. On the other hand, I am forced to find the other Elder Scroll for your father then become a Vampire else he will kill me as he trusts no mortals. You see my options now?" Jon explained his situation for Serana.
She nodded her head and sat back on the chair.
"Now, cute little fangs, you are the only one that can help me and that's why I found you in the span of one day. If you don't want your mother to be found, then you should help me get out of here."
It was a fair deal.
Help him get out and buy some time for yourself to get ready for whatever storm comes at your family.
Serana kept thinking of her situation and to be honest with herself, she would rather not trust Jon but putting her father on the other side was the whole gest of this situation.
She loved her family despite everything but… going further down the path of the prophecy will ruin the little that is left.
The man in front of her can accelerate the ruin and her father has a leverage on him getting him trapped in his Domain. Helping the man meant betraying her father and the opposite meant ruining everything.
"I… I don't know how I can help." She said, "I don't have any idea how to get you out if my father doesn't want to get you out."
She looked depressed and helpless.
Not only she was cooperating to betray her father, but she was also being manipulated by that man somehow and she is not fighting it. For some reason, the situation was too uncomfortable.
"Remember what I said?" Jon spoke.
She looked at him wondering what he meant.
"I said I need your help and you need mine. We are in this together, cute little fangs."
Jon approached her once again and held her hand.
"You see… I have a particular set of skills that I can use. For example, I am good at analyzing Space and that's how I found that your father is watching and listening through the Gargoyle status scattered around the castle. Sun Tzu said 'Know thy enemy, know thyself, in a hundred battles you will never be in peril'." Jon said with a smile as he rested his back to the chair.
Serana thought of the words for a bit and nodded.
"Now, your father will summon me at the end of this day when he is done flirting with the Elder Scroll we just gave him. Before he does that, I need to be ready. Tell me all you know about a Domain and I promise you that I will prevent your father from doing that Tyranny of the Sun Prophecy thing."
Serana looked at Jon and smiled bitterly.
"If the Domain is what you are worried about, then you are still not getting what kind of situation you are in here at all."
After she said that, she started explaining what the 'Domain' is.
Jon's jaw could drop no further than what it already did. The truth slapped him in the face way too hard this time.
"I guess I should give you some time to process all that and please know that I don't have that much hope in facing my father anyway." She said so and got out of the room leaving the stunned Jon behind.
***
It was not an hour later to Jon's meeting with Serana that he got summoned to Harkon's hall.
"Mortal, you promised and delivered. Good job." Harkon stood up and looked at Jon closely.
"For returning the Elder Scroll and my daughter to me, I can never thank you enough but as we agreed, your reward will come after you find my other Elder Scrolls." Harkon said as he smiled coldly at Jon.
"Scrolls?" Jon tilted his head, "Our deal was to get you one more Elder Scroll. The one your wife hid."
Harkon nodded with a hint of self-confidence and scanned the vampires around him.
"As you can see, I have come to the conclusion that the Three Elder Scrolls you are prophesied with are all important. Having three is better than having two and in the end, it changes nothing. You are becoming one of us after this is over, right?" Harkon smiled at Jon with greed appearing in his eyes.
"Yes, you are right." Jon nodded and looked at the one seated next to Harkon, Serana.
She seemed troubled in regards to her father's attitude.
Harkon noticed the look between them and smiled slyly.
"As for the third Elder Scroll that we didn't agree on prior to this conversation, I will offer you a more befitting reward." Harkon pointed to the seat next to Serana's on the other side.
Jon and Serana, no… everyone in the room blinked.
This was clear as day.
Harkon was using his daughter as a bargaining chip to keep control over both her and Jon.
Jon's didn't change and he kept looking at Harkon without saying anything but it was Serana's expressions that became sunken.
She was being used… again.
The infuriating feeling about being seen as a bargaining chip by was unbearable.
On the other hand, many other vampires were looking at Jon with murderous glares. He didn't even join the court of Lord Harkon and is clearly a mortal yet that prey is being offered the seat next to the Lord's daughter. It was blasphemy in their eyes.
Still, Jon could find the yellow smile fitting for the situation.
"I guess I will take you for your offer, Lord Harkon." That's how he replied.
"Splendid." Harkon replied, "Now, how do we find the next Elder Scroll?"
"Not here."
The reply rendered people speechless.
"Not here?" Harkon questioned.
"On a cosmological scale, yes."
"Ah, I see. That again."
First time when Jon answer that question, he said 'here' referring to the Mortal World, Mundus.
"So?" Harkon questioned.
"Clearly in Oblivion."
"Oh! Fine then." Harkon seemed oddly understanding. "Do you know where exactly?"
"Don't you remember that I once said we met a little bit too early? Well, as you see, I need some sort of sign that is supposed to come in the future. The only thing we can do now is either sit tight and wait for that future or… go turn every rock in Oblivion."
What Jon said didn't make only Harkon and his vampires question his sanity but Serana as well.
'Turn every rock in Oblivion?'
'Oblivion' refers to the myriad realms of chaos ruled by the Daedra or not ruled by the Daedra. Last time someone bothered about counting those realms has reached 37000.
Jon was saying that Harkon should go and turn every rock in 39000 different worlds. Certainly, there were nicer ways to say 'Go fuck yourself' yet Jon said it with a very natural face.
Still, the person who recovered from that statement first was Harkon.
"Interesting!" He said as he rested his back to his seat with a wide smile. "I think I have a solution to this situation."
Jon furrowed his brows trying to get what diabolical solution or torture method this vampire lord came up with.
Harkon walked away from the hall leaving everyone behind waiting in silence.
Jon felt bad about the situation especially when Serana started covering her forehead with her palm.
'Hooman, something is changing.'
Nefertiti detected some changes in the space around the 'Domain' and Jon raised guard immediately. He looked around but the vampires were smiling at him with a laid back attitude.
He felt the space and void around him turn in circles and a sudden urge to puke struck him. His head started spinning and his breathing became haggard.
Ten minutes like that and finally everything turned normal.
"What happened? What is going on?" Jon asked.
The answer came right from Serana.
"Follow me."
She stood up and walked through the hall, Jon followed her and soon all the vampires stood up and followed too. As they walked through the entrance hallway and walked through the gate, Jon could see the changes that happened clearly.
There was none of that mist that trapped him in the castle, instead, the island was clearly visible.
The water around the island was no ordinary water. It was something like a blue jelly glowing water that radiates like fluorescent. The sky was azure dark and the air was sickly foul.
This was no longer the place that Jon knew from the game. Reality had a totally different story to tell.
Harkon appeared behind Jon and walked past him to stand in front of everyone.
"In 'Tower of Lies', there is that device called the [Transliminal Scanner] used by the Daedra to scan the worlds around the Infralux Pseudocortex of Coldharbour. We can borrow that." Harkon said with no worry at all.
With a faint smile, Harkon walked back in the castle followed by his vampires and only Jon and Serana were left out.
A series of realization was stunning Jon by the second. All the things that Serana said about the 'Domain' were not even close to reality.
"The Domain is a realm of power." "A Pocket Reality." "A Place where the authority over Magicka belongs to a certain person."
What Jon overlooked in her long explanation was the fact that Castle Volkihar was a realm that had the ability to travel to Oblivion, specifically, a Pocket Realm of Coldharbour.
In his daze, Serana approached him and spoke quietly.
"So… any plan?"
She spoke out of agony that her father was willing to trade her for one more Elder Scroll. She was not comfortable with that sort of treatment anymore.
Jon closed his mouth and stared around him and looked at her.
"We can eat shit for a starter…" Jon said with a remorseful tone. "Or we can try an acquaintance that I was just torturing this morning. You think he'll hold a grudge?"