"Why can I not seeyou?"
Instead of answering, I let the silence stretch for what would have been a very uncomfortably long time to a mortal, letting the tension in the air build and build, and just as I felt she was about to address me again I speak up, voice a dry drawl "Have you considered the fact that you are inside of a tree?"
Her gaze remains but she remains silent.
"Right" I cough and ignore Scorch's snickering "How aware are you of what is going on right now?"
"My question remains unanswered" The whisper reemerges "Why wake me if you refuse to show yourself?"
'Going to have to let that one go you annoying lamp post' I grumble internally "Unfortunately revealing myself to you would also reveal me to your aptly titled jailor, and I assure you that neither of us wants that outcome."
Another long pause follows but I do not back down "Very well." The whisper carries a tinge of annoyance "I am aware that I am jailed, and that it was done through betrayal, but my memories are... distant."
'This may turn out more annoying than I expected' My eyes narrow and I feel the walls of Apocrypha shudder once more 'And I do not have infinite time to walk her through everything. Every second I waste not getting ready is one where my allies may be forced to retreat or Minthara might end up under Mora's personal attention...'
Within a blink, multiple ideas were formed and discarded before I decided that sometimes simplicity is best "I ask that you do not overreact." I speak up "But do the names Apocrypha and Hermaeus Mora mean anything to you?"
The moment the words leave my lips, I feel the tendrils currently connecting my mind to the prisoner sharpen and her fury begin bleeding into me, something that would have probably hemorrhaged my brain if I still bothered with using it.
But the tree does not tremble, nor emit any kind of detectable power, and thus the mission continues.
"Mora" The whisper becomes a hiss "The betrayer."
"Charming fellow, isn't he?" I smirk "I trust that you find your current situation objectionable?"
Another pause "An insulting understatement."
"My humblest apologies, my lady" I sketch an elaborate bow.
"...lady?" I feel apprehension at the concept before the memory seemingly clicks in and disappears "You are not one of his servants." She states "You seek to battle him then? Use my release as some kind of distraction."
"Nothing so crass, I assure you" I shake my head "Instead... think of it as seeking an alliance against a common foe while also getting you your freedom. A much more agreeable idea, no?"
Once more she takes her time responding "You dangle water above one dying of thirst. Cease with the games, and name your demands."
Well now, she is more eager than I expected "My humblest apologies" I inclined my head "And you are quite right that there are demands to be met." Time to push my luck "See, while it was Mora who imprisoned you, many others agreed with his reasoning, even as they did nothing to aid him."
The tendrils sharpen once again but this time they do not attempt to liquify my head.
I start channeling the absolute shit out of my aspect of deceit "Which means that I simply cannot unleash a being of unknown power without... assurances. Mere rules of engagement if you will, ones followed by all great being such as yourself."
"You ask that I exchange one binding for another?"
"I ask that you choose" I shrug, divinity still channeling at full force "Remain in that tree, lost and forgotten. Or accept rules of your own will, ones that will allow you to do as you will without bringing undue harm to the undeserving."
"Speak your terms" Is her curt reply.
"Very well" I nod "If you wish for freedom and alliance against your betrayer, I will require from you an oath" there was no mistaking my intent to anyone who listened "That you will abide by the Covenant of Akatosh, and that you will do no harm, direct or indirect to Nirn."
What followed was a rapid series of sensations and impressions.
The first thing I realized from her presence was that my attempt at downplaying what I was asking failed miserably, nearly getting her to reveal herself due to my arrogance. Part divine I may be but to lie to a Daedra over something like this was still beyond me it would seem.
Second came the immediate refusal, one that ever so slowly subsided as I simply stood there for ten minutes, staring at the tree intently.
Next came attempts at negotiating, and I almost turned to leave.
Say what you will about Mephala but if she thought something was fucky enough to rip out her memory of it it was damn well best left tamed or forgotten. Merely fucking Mora over would have to suffice but it is what it is.
Finally, a sense of resignation emanated from the prison and the whisper returned in a more understandable manner "Very well..."
"Excellent" I clap my hands, pretending my soul didn't just get stared down by an eldrich abomination "Do start whenever you like."
"I will remember this." She hisses and I feel her presence firming almost enough to manifest, just one step behind actually fighting against her bindings "I Ithelia, do swear on my name and all I am, that should I be released, I will honor the Covenant of Akatosh, and seek to do no harm, direct or indirect to the realm of Nirn."
With the declaration of her name, I feel a new weight settle all around us, even if it was obviously being heavily suppressed. For a moment I almost feel Mora's gaze turning towards us, but just as quickly something occurs that distracts him.
"I thank you for your cooperation" I smile as relief floods me "Now that the unpleasantries are out of the way, I will begin my preparations. You will be out of that ghastly piece of lumber before you even realize it."
The equivalent of narrowed eyes stares into me "Should you betray me-"
"Yes, yes" I raise a hand lazily "Fire, brimstone, death, suffering, and all the others. Don't give me a reason and we will be juuust fine."
She does not answer.
Nodding in satisfaction, I step away from the great tree, the gaze of both the imprisoned goddess and the emaciated vampire following me as I approached a corner, summoned Blasphemy and began carving into the stone-adjacent surface, Void's Blink guiding my every step.
My hands remained precise, but with each little cut I began feeling increasingly giddy.
That will show you to stress me the fuck out you literal book worm!
-----
(General POV, earlier)
Minthara caught herself before she could fall over, the cobbled together portal practically launching her into an odd chamber filled with pools of ink and decaying bookshelves, and surrounded by odd drafty walls.
She took a deep breath, regretted it instantly as the smell assaulted her, and turned to her compani- "Of course" She deadpanned, realizing she was completely alone "Prick probably found it too funny to tell me even now."
'Says something about me that I find it endearing...' The thought came from nowhere and was promptly swatted away into the ever-growing pile of scary self consciousness.
Shaking her head, she took note of her surroundings, quickly realizing she was atop some kind of massive constantly shifting bridge made up of hundreds of little sections that were all an odd mix of library, root looking passage, and incomprehensible maze of flesh.
...No wait, that last one was just the sea of eyeballs on the ceiling.
She shivered "Why did I agree to come to this place again?" And quickly suppressed her mind's instant answer.
Following the outline of the grand structure before her, she found easily see her ultimate destination. A large platform, the size of a small fort or thereabouts, that looked like a gigantic tree stump.
Even from all the way here she could see the same architecture she remembered from Miraak's temple.
Unbidden, a smirk wormed its way onto her face "And here I thought my previous family reunions were awkward." She snorted, leaned Dovakren on her shoulder, and began her march.
...For about approximately one minute.
Standing at the edge of the section of bridge she was currently on, she stared down into the pool, her eyes nearly allowing her to fully notice the uncountable undulating tentacles below.
"Nope, nope, nope, nope!" She quickly stepped away and actually looked at the small library she was surrounded by, finding numerous folded scrolls (promptly pocketed), soul gems (yoink), and to her great surprise, actual weapons and armor.
That too naturally joined the loot pile.
Her... enthusiastic search led her to ruffle through the entire place, revealing no passage forward and no other thing of value except for the furniture itself and the odd flesh lamp pods that provided light.
'There is always a way' She thought to herself 'For all their oddness they are always arrogant enough to leave a way forward...'
"Don't tell me..." She groaned as she approached that same edge once more, her eyes fixed upon the pod lamp sitting right next to the oddly fence-less part of the section. Closing her eyes and counting to ten, she pressed the lamp's glowy bits, quickly retracting her hand as the disgusting feeling registered and snapping her eyes open on reflex.
Just in time to see the thing crawl down into its shell and cover itself with fleshy flaps.
The moment the lamp closed, two things occurred.
One, a bridge previously connected to another section began floating towards her own.
And two, the ink pool in the middle of her section exploded up, revealing the large and imposing form of a lurker.
The beast rounded on her, roaring at her loudly enough to shake the books still on the shelves, and preparing to lunge.
Only for its entire upper body to be caved in before it could so much as twitch by the increasingly disgusted demigoddess.
"Yuck" She spat, and kicked the lurker back into his pit.
Thus motivated, she quickly crossed the bridge called by the fleshy lamp, and found herself in yet another section of the endless library, only now she was faced with floating seekers and already awakened lurkers.
She did not bother hiding.
Section after section of Apocrypha's innermost realm was ransacked for all it was worth, the irritated demigoddess graciously helping herself to all of it as payment for having to suffer Mora's poor taste in realm creation.
And yet with each section she passed, the challenges became more and more annoying.
At first they started requiring specific sequences of pod activations, making her waste more and more of her time and bogging her down in the constantly replenishing guardians.
She did find it rather odd how she wasn't getting swarmed to death but one look at the gigantic fire burning to her relative south quickly informed her of the reason.
After the sequence puzzles came ones of elemental interaction, each growing increasingly demanding in complexity but ultimately failing to hold her back. Her education was rather considerable, even if most of it had been crammed.
The challenge that came next was one of strategy, where she directed a series of odd looking automatons to battle another, commanded by a seemingly conscious seeker who kept glaring at her each time she outmaneuvered him without bothering to use all her allotted time.
'It was an... experience' She decided as she brained the seeker and turned him into fine green paste, not before offering him the chance to serve a superior god, a kindness for which she was spat upon.
She saw herself getting closer to the once-distant summit, and stepped into the final chamber.
One that mirrored her destination, if only by shape.
She dispatched of the Dremora within with utmost speed, and searched the whole place, once more taking anything not nailed down (and some things that were) before realizing that it lacked any of the previous gimmicks she had grown familiar with.
Only four podiums standing tall around a sudden drop were different, and upon further inspection she found that they were carved with murals depicting certain aspects of Mora's iconography.
Once more, she searched the area, knocking her hammer into the walls without a care as she sought some kind of secret passage, but failing to do any true damage, as the moment she looked away the walls would repair themselves.
On her third pass she did notice something however. A quartet of tomes, ones of the same girth as the Black Books themselves, and more importantly sized perfectly for the pedestals she had seen.
It took her a full third of an hour to convince herself that opening the books was the only way forward.
When she realized all they held within were mildly ominous poems pointing at the murals she saw she nearly ripped the damn things apart.
She put them all in their rightful places, and the wall to her relative north distorted, revealing a large staircase that led to her destination, one she did not hesitate to follow.
To her surprise, she found that no Dremora waiting for her above, only a large pool of ink surrounding what looked to be a perfect replica of the peak of Miraak's temple.
And speaking of Miraak.
She looked up, and her eyes met the masked man standing on the temple's edge.
"We meet face to face at last" His voice echoed perfectly, transferring to just in front of her "My dear sister."
-------
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