Hmmm , i will not know if the information is worth such a price unless i acquire it and yet i can not see the downside to agreeing to this bargain , how curious." hermaeus reasoned out loud. "i accept these terms mortal now for your side of the deal." the daedra says impatiently. alastair felt the magic thrum in the air around him as the deal was struck but chose to ignore it. turning to the group including septimus alastair told them to leave as they had no part in this. all of them left albeit unwillingly with the exception of septimus who was claimed by hermaeus likely as a veiled threat.
Alastair was unbothered by this however since he had no intention to trick the daedric prince in the first place. reaching into his inventory alastair took out a copy of his enchanting method , which he handed over without any fanfare. a slimy tentacle took the book and vanished with it and alastair heard the daedra ... purr? whatever that odd sound was hermaeus seemed satisfied by the knowledge he gained at the least. "as for my origins i hail from outside of this world hence outside its weaved fate." he said calmly.
"I see , yes that would indeed work that way , though it surprises me greatly that a being from outside this world had arrived here." hermaeus said. alastair felt an odd sensation after hermaeus spoke and it took him a moment to figure out what it was. alastair flared his magic against the sensation viciously "how dare you try and stick one of those filthy threads on me!" he yelled at the daedra angrily. yes hermaeus mora had tried to sneakily plant a thread of fate on alastair by pretending to be distracted by the information alastair just gave him.
What hermaeus didn't realize was that since alastair had freed himself from the threads of fate he had grown incredibly sensitive to the fluctuations of it. alastair used a massive amount of mana but eventually threw the thread away from him. "all things should have a fate , why do you resist its weave so violently?" the daedra asked completely unfazed by having his plan seen through and thwarted. "haa haa haa" alastair panted from the exertion he had just put out. "unlike all of you who can see fate but are powerless to change it i am truly free to choose my path , and i refuse to be restricted again." he said with the full weight of his conviction.
Before the daedra could speak again alastair blasted its projection back to oblivion with an overcharged banishing spell. "fuck that guy in particular" he cursed angrily before leaving the now pointless outpost. the group could tell how angry alastair was and had the good wisdom to not bother him during the trip back to winterhold. alina and serana bid farewell when the ship docked and the rest of the group went about their own business.
Once alastair calmed down enough that the weather didn't look like the apocalypse was inbound his friends and wives started showing up to figure out what pissed him off so much. after learning of hermaeus moras failed attempt to mess with alastairs fate they were all not surprised at alastairs anger. even savos one of alastairs more calm natured friends was furious when he learned of it but since he was powerless against a daedric prince he could only swallow his anger. most of the others also had similar reactions since this was a truly grave action against a friend of theirs.
Alastairs wives didn't have the same reaction since they knew of the plan alastair had hatched against hermaeus mora. the next few months were spent by alastair planning his trip to apocrypha as well as how he would return. the easiest part for alastair to plan out was traveling to the realm since the knowledge of interdimensional travel greatly helped. the biggest problem alastair had to solve was how to insure hermaeus didn't pull a fast one on him causing him to be trapped there in a similar manner to miraak. the solution to this was that alastair split his soul into both a large piece and a small one with the large piece remaining with his wives who would summon the small one back if such a situation required it.
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I will shout out whoever can guess alastairs plan first. as always please feel free to comment on the story.