Chapter 1: To a New World
As Benedict, otherwise known as the Dragonborn, or "Dovahkiin" for those of you that wish to speak in the draconic tongue, sat in the kitchen of his home, Hjerim, he mindlessly thumbed through a journal. To be honest, some would think this journal would be closer to a catalogue more than anything if they were allowed to see its contents. In it, he had entered the names, basic details, such as behavior, verbal communications, if any, etc. of the enemies he had encountered, human, beast, and undead alike. In fact, it wasn't too long after encountering his first dragon, Mirmulnir, that he had begun to include rough sketches of them, the dragons being the most difficult due to their size, not to mention the fact that all but the bones are destroyed and absorbed as its soul when they're slain.
As he did this, he heard the front door open. Out of forgotten instinct, he quickly turned, which knocked over the chair he'd occupied, dagger in hand, ready to fight if need be. He silently lowered it, an unreadable expression on his face, as he saw Serana, an old companion (both figuratively and literally) closing the door with a booted foot, firewood in one arm.
"How many times have I told you to knock first? Last time you did that, I took off a lock of your hair with an arrow," Benedict said, his monotone voice unsettling her. Serana mentally shivered. Though their adventures had taken them to startling places, filled with unimaginable foes, the tone that he'd begun to use still frightened her the most.
"After that last one, fifteen," she replied, matching his tone, albeit hers showing a little more emotion and sarcasm. "That doesn't matter right now, though. I may've found a new adventure."
Benedict's mood immediately brightened considerably, but darkened once again. "Haha, very funny. You know you shouldn't joke about those sort of things with me. Do you have any idea how boring this place has gotten? I swear, I almost started a Shouting match with Ulfric yesterday just to have something to do other than chopping firewood and selling mead."
Serana gave him a disapproving look with her signature red, vampiric eye. "I'm serious, Ben. I was on a walk through the Gray Quarter and I heard one of the newer... 'residents', if I can even call them that, bragging about having a book to sell-"
"And how does that help cure this boredom that is my life right now?" he snapped, cutting her off. "Besides, how many times have I told you not to call me that?"
Her glare intensified. "If you'll let me finish, that would be great."
Benedict let out a huff, first uprighting, then returning to the chair he'd been sitting in before Serana's unexpected arrival. "Fine. Go on about this book this gray-skin is selling."
Serana rolled her eyes. I really wish he wouldn't call them that, she thought. "As I was saying, Benedict, he was going on about how this book contains a ritual that can send you to another dimension if performed correctly. Of course, I don't know if any of this is true or not, but I don't see any harm in trying."
Benedict thought for a moment. He replied, "Alright, fine, let's see what this book has to offer. How much is the asking price?"
"2,500 Septims."
He scoffed, "That's it? 2,500 Septims for a book that can send you to a world that contains an unknown amount of riches, ores, and other priceless artifacts, possibly even Daedric?" Serana nodded, a questioning look playing across her face. She was beginning to question the elf's truthfulness. "Alright, fine." His words broke her train of thought. "Go get the payment out of the safe behind the wardrobe." She turned and began to ascend to the stairs. As she walked up, she heard him call, "And if those mannequins have moved again, I swear to Talos I will turn them into firewood!"
As Serana returned to Hjerim from the Gray Quarter, book in hand, she glanced through the pages, looking at the materials needed to perform the ritual. As she did this, she took a double-take at one of the materials: blood of the Dragonborn.
"Why in Oblivion would you need something like that?" she mumbled, stumbling on a loose stone. She looked away from the book, slightly worried about why Benedict's blood would be needed. Serana, as she approached the door, placed the book in her satchel.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Benedict had just finished destroying the last mannequin when he heard the door open downstairs, the hinges squeaking, showing their need of oiling. He sighed, figuring it was Serana, and skillfully hurled the axe he had used into the wall on the other side of the room, barely missing the paragons placed on small pedestals similar to the ones used with soul gems, like gilded eggs, on top of the bookshelf. "Did you get the book?" he called, walking down the stairs.
"Of course I did. What else would take ten minutes for me to do here?" she responded. As he opened his mouth to speak, she looked at him and growled, "That's not what I meant, you pervert."
He chuckled, and said, "I wasn't gonna say anything. Well, nothing bad, at least."
"Uh huh... That's what you said last time," she replied darkly as she tossed him the book. "Go ahead and see if we need a certain spot to do it at. I'll go look for the ingredients."
She stalked past him towards the alchemy room, 'accidentally' bumping into him roughly. He turned, glared for a moment, then returned to the book in his hands. "I sure hope this works. If not, then that's 2,500 Septims down the drain," he mumbled to himself. He leafed through the book, looking for the ritual requirements, when a familiar word - name, really - caught his attention. "Blood of the Dragonborn? Why in Oblivion would we need that?"
Benedict felt a quick cut on his forearm. "That's exactly what I was thinking. To be honest, I don't know, but this wouldn't be the first time you've lost any," he heard Serana say beside him. He turned and saw her next to him, her elven dagger in one hand, a vial of blood - his blood - in the other.
He grunted in pain - irritation, really - and said, "I know that, but it still stings like a bitch."
"Oh, hush, you big baby. I've seen you almost lose an arm and not even flinch," she said in a condescending tone.
"It's called adrenaline, Serana. I know you haven't felt what it can do to a person."
"Hurry up and find out if we need an open area in case this thing backfires," she snapped.
"Alright, alright, give me a minute... Okay, it looks like we need... a circle of rooted mushrooms to perform it in. Hey, use that vampire memory of yours and see if we've come across any before."
"For the last time, vampires don't have any special abilities pertaining towards memorization. And we don't have to leave Skyrim, thankfully. There was a mushroom circle growing on the other side of Bilegulch Mine. Lucky us," she answered. While annoying as it was, she was happy to see Benedict's old adventuring personality returning after several months of absence.
He said, "Then go get your things and rest up." He began towards his room. "This may be the last chance you get to before we go, so make it quick. I don't want to waste any more time than we have to."
As Benedict made his way into his room, he began to prepare for his new adventure, which would take him gods know where and cause him to fight gods know what.
First, he set towards his old set of adventuring armor that he hadn't needed to use for a few months now. While the cuirass was found in the Blades' current home base, he couldn't place where he had found the Orcish gauntlets and boots. Since he wasn't the greatest of smiths in Windhelm, let alone Skyrim, he couldn't craft anything Orcish in nature, but he still knew how to improve on them for use. Lastly, he put on a Falmer helm under his favorite dragon priest's mask, Nakhariin. For some odd reason, the pairing of helms fit well together, so he never found a reason to lose the Falmer helm since it only increased his protection, albeit slightly, should anything somehow pierce or break the mask.
When he went for his weapons, he noticed a tiny lump in the sheets of his bed. He lifted the rough cloth to see a necklace and ring, both with an enchanted emerald imbedded within them. Benedict then remembered their significance to his old adventuring days. After finding the pieces of jewelry a comfortable place on his body, he felt the familiar extra 50% of one-arm strength return to him after months of absence.
He then went for his two favorite physical weapons: a glass bow and war axe, named Deadly Windpiercer with a fire damage enchantment and Sorcerer's Dualblade with a Magicka damage enchantment, respectively. While he knew there was an enhanced crossbow resting in one of the display cases, along with over a thousand bolts, both steel and Dwarven, he never favored the crossbows.
As Benedict finished strapping up the quiver of steel arrows to his back, he heard the false wardrobe open, letting him know Serana was ready as well. He descended the stairs and saw her standing at the base, suited in the Ancient Falmer armor he'd given her after their adventure in the Forgotten Vale had ended. He also noticed that her dagger was hidden from view, replaced by Dawnbreaker, a weapon that was created to cause harm specifically to the undead, vampires included. Oh, the irony, he thought. "You ready to go?" He said, not mentioning the irony of her wielding of the weapon.
"Only if you are," Serana replied, no trace of sarcasm in her tone. "All of the things we need for this are already prepared. It should only take me a minute to set everything up once we get there."
"Then let's go. We're already burning daylight as it is," he said, a little quicker than he wanted. Serana noticed his haste, and knew that he was eager to get out of the house, but she saw the look in his eyes, a look that she'd only seen in bandits and werewolves they'd fought before, a look that shook her to the core, as she never expected to see it in her best friend's eyes: bloodlust.
A few hours later found the pair at the bottom of the hill that the infamous Bilegulch Mine rested upon, where that odd circle of mushrooms lay. While Benedict began to wander away from Serana and the nature circle to ensure the area was safe and that the ritual wouldn't be interrupted, she prepared the ingredients required to perform it. A few minutes later, Benedict returned, a few arrows missing from his quiver and blood on Dualblade.
"I don't think we'll be interrupted anytime soon," he stated with an air of confidence. "Damn wolves and frostbite spiders are more of an annoyance than anything else nowadays."
"Well at least there weren't any ascendant mages or bandit marauders. Gods forbid centurion masters, " Serana replied absentmindedly, instead focusing on getting the ingredients placed correctly in order for the ritual to work.
"I suppose that's true... but it would've only taken a little more time and blood. Both on my part," he shot back. "How's the preparations coming along?"
"They'd be going a lot faster if you'd shut up for once..." she mumbled.
"What was that?" he said, pretending he hadn't heard what she'd said.
"I said that the preparations are just about done, I just need a minute to set everything up," she answered, louder and with a tone of agitation. "I think that just about... does it. It's ready."
Benedict sighed. "Thank Talos... hopefully this won't go horribly wro-" he stopped speaking, his mouth slamming shut in an angry scowl, when he heard a sound that always haunted him, even though he was built to hunt and kill this certain type of beast, even considered them kin -- the roar of a blood dragon.
"Oh, come on!" he screamed. "The one time in months that I thought that I could get a break from all the bad luck that's been happening to me! I only wanted one break! One!"
"You realize that that kind of shouting won't bring that thing down, right?" Serana snapped, Dawnbreaker already drawn and one of her favorite offensive spells, Ice Spike, ready to be released toward the giant flying lizard.
"Yes, I do! I'm just not in the mood to fight it right now!" he snapped back.
"Then just use Dragonrend right now. From this distance, none of it's Shouts or other attacks will affect us enough to cause a disturbance during the performance and botch it to Oblivion, and possibly us with it."
He looked at her oddly, similar to a confused dog, over his shoulder for a moment before turning and, ranging the distance, put a lead on the flying dragon, and Shouted, "Joor... Zah Frul!" After the Shout was finished, Benedict turned, facing Serana, who had already cut off the magicka from the spell and sheathed the sword. He didn't have turn around to know he had hit his mark, the dragon's cry of agony from experiencing a feeling that should never be felt by anything immortal being, no matter how dangerous or deadly, even as evil as a Daedric prince - mortality - ringing across the valley.
"I don't know what's more disturbing - a dragon's usual roar, or the one it uses when it's in actual pain," Serana said, shivering slightly.
"You got that right. I'll never get used to either of them, though..." he answered painfully, his ears ringing from his Shout. Sighing, he continued, "Let's just, uh... get this thing over with so we don't have to deal with the dragon."
"Okay, got it..." she replied, being careful of what she said as she noticed his darkening mood. "So... there's something I didn't mention earlier."
"What is it?"
"Well... I need to stay here so the connection between worlds doesn't become too big. Sending both of us through, especially at the same time, could throw off the balance and destroy both worlds, or at the very least dramatically alter them to the point of where they'll destroy themselves in time. I want to keep that from happening, so I want to keep the tear as small as possible. Plus, someone needs to maintain a connection to the world so we wouldn't end up getting stuck in wherever we get thrown into."
"So... this is gonna be a solo run, then? Hehe," he chuckled dryly, slightly depressed at the fact that his vampiric friend wouldn't join him, "just like old times..."
"Just... get back safe, ok? I don't think I could lose another person close to me to an unknown dimension," she said sadly, thinking of her mother, Valerica, and how she was lost to the Soul Cairn all those centuries ago, and how she refused to come back to Tamriel. Even after her fanatic father, Vampire Lord Harkon, was killed, ending the only chance he had for initiating the Tyranny of the Sun with Auriel's Bow and blood-tainted arrows, the blood coming from a Daughter of Coldharbour.
Benedict stared at her with amazement, surprised that she considered him that close to her. "I promise I'll come back. I just don't know when, or if I'll look the same as I do now. You never know if a rabid animal will finish ripping that arm off," he joked, even though he knew it wasn't appropriate for the moment.
Despite herself, she made a halfway smile and blew a quick breath through her nose, a habit she'd picked up from living with Benedict for the last few months. Shaking her head, she answered, "Just don't do anything stupid, alright? Probably pointless to ask of something that big to you, but no harm in trying to warn you. Besides, I like where your face is now."
"I'll try, but no promises," he said stupidly. As he said this, he looked up sharply, the hair on his neck bristling slightly, as he heard the dragon's body shift in the crater it had formed. "Now, not trying to run off or anything, but we probably only have a minute to perform this thing before that dragon wakes up from that crash landing."
"R-right, sorry. Just go stand over there in the middle of the circle and I'll get to work."
Now, normally, former student to Princess Celestia and recently crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle would be preparing for the end of the day in her home and workplace, Golden Oaks Library, but tonight was different. She was sent a letter with the Royal Seal upon it, dignifying the sender as either Princesses Celestia or Luna, though the former being more likely due to their unique relationship. As Twilight opened it, she noticed a small note attached to the letter. It read: "Please, to prevent any knowledge of this becoming known to others that may endanger themselves, either burn or return this letter immediately after reading it to ensure the safety of others. - Princess Celestia."
Twilight thought it was strange that Celestia would've sent a letter this late, but after reading the note, she disregarded her thoughts, as what it said would only mean that whatever was written in the letter was of extreme importance and possibly danger. She opened the letter hastily, almost tearing it, and began to read, ignoring Spike, a baby dragon that she had hatched, indirectly causing her to become Princess Celestia's student, and his repeated attempts to read the letter as well. What she read both frightened and intrigued her.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, I only share this with you because you and the other Element bearers are six of the only ponies I can trust with this information due to... recent events. I've recently sensed a large magical fluctuation in the Everfree Forest. While it is true that the forest is constantly experiencing small fluctuations due to its unnatural weather patterns, this was much larger than the usual. I ask you and the other Elements to investigate this occurrence as soon as possible. I would assist in the search, but, as you know, I am quite busy at the moment, and I am unable to do so. I do recommend enlisting the help of the Zebraican shaman. Zecora, I believe her name was. She may be of some assistance in your search. This fluctuation has already caused a disturbance in the royal court, and I do not want to risk the population with whatever may've come through this occurrence, if anything has at all. And please, do be careful while searching for this disturbance. While you may not have much trouble with the inhabitants within the forest, whatever might have come through the disturbance might well be a different story, as it were. I wish luck upon you and the other Elements in this search, and I hope you return safely.
--Princess Celestia
Twilight's thoughts, as well as her expression, changed immediately from fright to absolute horror. The change in his caretaker's mood frightened Spike, and when he began to read the letter when she had lost her grip with her magic on it, his mood made the same drastic change. "Um... Twilight? Do you think we should go now, if Princess Celestia thinks its this important?" he asks, a slight shake betraying his fear of this new information.
Twilight's only answer was a small but sharp exhale. Another minute passed before she answered softly while staring off into space, "Send it back. And send the girls a copy of the letter. Tell them to be ready by Fluttershy's home in the morning. 7 o'clock, sharp. Got it?"
"Y-yeah, got it," he said, before running for the desk and quickly writing the copies and sending the letters to their proper recipients before returning the original to Princess Celestia. All of this took about five minutes due to Spike's practice over the last few years living with Twilight. "They just got sent, Twilight!" he called into the kitchen, where he expected her to be frantically preparing for tomorrow's little quest into the forest in search of whatever might've come through the fluctuation the Princess had warned them of. He knew it would be pointless to try to convince her to calm down, wait for the next day to prepare, and get all the sleep she could for tomorrow, so after informing her of his assignment's completion, he continued up to his room and proceeded to sleep until morning.
