Within the ash-covered reaches of old Vvardenfell the sound of quiet steps broke the methodical noise of mechanical tinkering, the ever-curious work of the ancient elf pausing just as his 'daughter' made her presence known.
"Ah, Alfe my dear." The seated Mer looked up from the disassembled 'Dwemer' spider made from blackened steel atop his table "What news do you bring from our stubborn kin? I do hope it wasn't just another routine meetup of their clans, that would be unacceptably boring."
Before she could respond the seated sorcerer, for he could be nothing else sitting at the summit of a traditional Telvanni tower, slumped his shoulders "Ever since that fool Vivec decided to play god and failed spectacularly good entertainment has been sorely missed. Why, I am almost tempted to move to the mainland!" Divayth Fyr looked back to his daughter/clone, his rant nowhere near done "Do you have any idea just how unacceptable that is?"
The ancient elf let out a loud scoff "Come on then, stop holding me in suspense, what happened?"
Viciously suppressing the urge to point out he was the one at fault, his 'daughter' cleared her throat "There has in fact been a development you may find interesting." She told him professionally "The Daedra are moving."
"They always are" Dyvayth drawls "Why does it matter now?"
"Because a prophesy was made." She answers "Surushta-Kai was present during one of the clans' meetups and a Wise Woman of the Urshilaku supposedly received a vision from Azura herself."
One of the oldest 'mortals' on Nirn pauses, his eyes finally lighting up with interest "Another prophesy from Azura, you say?"
Alfe shot a quick look at the contraption atop her creator's table before quickly looking back at him and nodding "Indeed, and one about a name you've had great interest in for years at that."
Divayth had not been this animated in centuries, startling his female clone by jumping out of his seat with an almost manic shine in his eye "What name?" His voice was almost a hiss.
It was said that upon hearing his clone's answer, the excited laughter of the master of the tower could be heard throughout the entirety of Tel Fyr and even the now unused dungeon beneath, the few denizens who still remained wisely did not leave their rooms for a while after that.
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(About a day earlier)
Vayrin of the House Indoril could barely keep his excitement from showing as he was led by a few bored-looking Erabenimsun warriors into the ancient and by now quite thoroughly ash-covered city of Ald'Ruhn, the ashlanders did not say a word as they led him in, through streets which were just barely cleared enough for Mer to walk properly.
But the young priest was not discouraged, he had come to this place to learn the old lore of the Reclamations straight from the source of the faithful ashlander tribes, the only Dunmer sect which kept to the true gods as the false tribunal usurped their place and cursed their people for thousands of years.
When the reincarnated Hortator, the great Nerevar himself, gave Vvardenfell fully to the ashlander tribes the great houses grumbled and raged at their chosen leader but not Vayrin's father, who understood that faith should be rewarded and folly punished, and what greater punishment for failed leaders than that of lost lands?
Unfortunately, the reward of the good tribespeople was tainted for the moment the Hortator left east, following a divine vision no doubt, the stone which was held up by the stolen power of the false god Vivec finally fell upon the lands and made the Red Mountain erupt, destroying the promised paradise of the ashlanders as one final petty insult from the false gods.
"The tenacity of your people is impressive." The young priest of Azura finally spoke, unable to bear the silence broken only by sharp winds "Not many would have the strength or courage to return to this place every year, especially not with the constant ash and firestorms."
The larger of the Erabenimsun clansmen let out a harsh, grating bark of laughter "Don't compare us to you weak house Dunmer, we ashlanders won't let anything bar us from honoring our ancestors."
"Don't be too hard on the youth brother." The smaller one gave Vayrin's back a light (to him) pat, almost making him sprawl on the ash-covered ground if not for the training his reflexes got on the arduous journey "At least he is trying."
"Which is why I even bothered answering." The older brother scoffs.
"Why do you gather here anyway?" Vayrin tried dusting off the ash covering his robes on reflex before remembering how utterly futile the action was "I've heard stories from the Redoran but best I hear it from the netch's mouth as well."
"Netch's mouth?" The larger warrior growled and rounded on him before he could even blink "You trying to insult us boy?"
Realizing he may have made a mistake, the young priest immediately rose his hands placatingly "I meant no offense sera, it was but a turn of phrase I used!"
The two warriors stared down at him for a long moment before the both of them burst into amused laughter "Of ashin' course we know what you meant." The shorter brother snorts "Bloody mainlanders think us all barbarians just because we don't wish to live in decadence."
Vayrin's cheeks had by this point darkened to near purple, his eyes pointedly locked to the road below him as the duo burst into another bout of chuckles at his expense.
"To answer your question, young one" The shorter brother began once they all calmed down a bit "Ald'ruhn is the place where all the clans united to face the emperor crab Scar, gathering here is a celebration of our ancestors and our shared roots and a reminder of our ancient brotherhood."
It did not take a sorcerer to understand why that was a good idea and Vayrin quickly nodded along "I can see the wisdom of such a choice." He pointedly did not mention the version of the story where a Redoran warrior paid the ashlanders with scraps to use them as distractions before he bravely slew the old beast, he liked his head atop his shoulders far too much for such stupidity to remove it thank you most kindly!
"Quite" The taller one nodded, still a bit curt bot seemingly warming up to the boy as their trek went on "Can't wait for the feast myself." He pats his armored chest "The gathering of the four great clans always brings something interesting to try."
"Only four?" Vayrin heard himself ask "I've heard of many more ashlander tribes than four..."
"The four great clans boy." The taller one repeated "The only four clans that remained on Vvardenfell despite everything the world threw at us. Urshilaku the lore-keepers, Ahemmusa the hunters, Zainab the craftsmen and traders, and us Erabenimsun, the greatest warriors."
"That Urshilaku twat might challenge you again over that last bit." The shorter brother chortles "Ashin' fools can't even wear proper armor and want us to respect them."
"Let the chitin worshipping traditionalists stay stupid." The taller one grins under his helmet "More metal for the real warriors that way."
"Of course brother." The shorter one nodded "There is no curing idiocy." He pauses a step before catching up again "Speaking of idiocy... You got a name young one?"
'Was he calling him an idiot, or his own lack of introductions?' Vayrin pondered before quickly shaking his head "Vayrin Indoril" He voiced "Of a branch house thankfully."
"You got some false god blood in you boy?" The taller one was suddenly too close "And you are thankful?"
"I do not" Vayrin once more found himself rising his hands but this time in self defense as flames began to form at the tips of his fingers "Which is the fact I was grateful for. All children of Almalexia have fled into the mountains and hills and have not been seen in years."
The tall Dunmer stared at him for a while longer before giving him a clipped nod and turning back to the path "You got some spine at least boy. Name's Massour, remember it."
"And I am Massanor" The shorter one offered a light bow, most likely one in mockery "Though my brother seems to have forgotten to mention the addition to the festivities we will be having this year."
"Bah!" Massour waved him off, his mood instantly reduced "Those newcomers should not be allowed into Ald'ruhn, 'hidden clan' my ashin' ass!"
"A hidden clan?" Vayrin blinked "How could there ever be a hidden clan if the whole island was scoured after Lord Nerevar's victory?"
"By being a bunch of suspicious and secretive kwama buggerers, that is how." Massanor scoffed "Started popping out from somewhere around the ruins of Kogoruhn a century or so back, ran out of food supposedly and were forced to trade."
"Trade?" Vayrin rose an eyebrow "No offense but what did they even have to trade to you for food? I thought food was a commodity in these lands, especially after the eruption."
"We get by" Massanor half answered "And they had orichalcum" He added bluntly while unsheathing is visibly green blade "They live in underground caverns most of the time and came upon a vein an age ago, they are still mining the bloody thing to this day."
The young priest could not help but smile at the revelation, this was the exact reason why he left the safety of Mournhold. How could he have ever found out something so interesting if he remained in his father's library, drowning himself in books all day?
"Call themselves the Darhashin" Massanor went on "Not that many of them but they are a lively lot once you get through to them, which is where the main issue lay."
"Bunch of recluses, the whole lot of them." Massour not quite growled "Had to offer a whole stone of netch meat for the trader to even speak to me." His next words came out almost painfully "They made a fair bargain of it though, I will give them that much."
Their conversation trailed off as they finally reached a populated section of the ancient city, the chitin-hewn buildings almost all burned to a crisp or fully engulfed in ash with only the remnants of Skar itself still standing against the elements, as if the ancient emperor crab's will remained long past its defeat, still refusing to bend to this day.
Massanor and Massour did not leave him as he had expected them to, instead he Vayrin found himself getting dragged around the entirety of the massive building, getting introduced to friends and family and offered food.
It was a truly heartwarming thing he found, to be so thoroughly accepted after the duo of warriors introduced him as a priest of Azura. What was not heartwarming though was getting questioned by the Wise Women of the Erabenimsun 'in case his teachers messed up their lessons'
The old women probably just wanted someone to tease as they were away from their own children, he concluded.
And he did so aloud apparently, something which earned him the instant respect of the two brothers who patted his back and offered their condolences as they japed he would not survive the night.
That was a jape... right?
Potential ascension into the Moonshadow aside, the day passed by without the young Mer even noticing it and soon he found himself being dragged into the great hall, where a roaring flame illuminated the gathered ashlanders and a few other visitors, including an Argonian of all things.
The four Ashkhans of the great tribes took their seats at one shared table and the rest followed suit, but they did not begin feasting immediately as offerings would need to be made first.
That gave Vayrin a moment to seek out the supposed 'hidden tribe' he had heard about, and it did not take him long to find them.
While the Ashkhan of the Darhashin was not honored like the others the ancient-looking elf did not seem to mind it one bit, smiling genially as he was surrounded by the smallest group in the gathering, a mere two dozen Mer.
Something which would have been a heartwarming scene to behold if not for the Ashkhan's visage.
The old elf was a spindly thing, tall but unnaturally thin, and with holes in his cheeks which seemed to have scabbed over multiple times, his jaw looked somewhat elongated and his teeth just a tad too long. He looked as if he had gotten every single skin disease in the history of Resdayn.
'Skin disease...' The words rung out in Vayrin's mind...
But before he could come to any kind of conclusion the hall hushed and the wise women, one from each clan, came to the hall's center, placing humble offerings before the altars of the Four Corners of Troubled House to appease them through reluctant worship.
The fact that the ashlanders offered any kind of worship to Molag Bal, Mehrunes Dagoth, Malakath, and Sheogorath was still something Vayrin was not even close to accepting. For all his respect for the ashlanders that was yet a step too far in his eyes.
Then came the offerings to the Tribunal or what he called the Reclamations, far more lavish and grand than the meager tribute paid to the gods of evil and wrongness, and with hymns of praise being sung with a surprising level of artistry involved.
When the Urshilaku Wise Woman stepped before the altar to Azura her movements ceased, she shivered and clutched at her body, almost as if trying to embrace herself, before she stilled once more, some artificial calming effect no doubt, and looked up.
Vayrin's eyes widened as he felt his patron's presence within the old woman, and he soon found himself falling on his knees in prayer, something which drew immediate attention from the ashlanders and quickly clued them in as to what was going on.
"Worthy worshipers" The woman spoke with words that were not hers "Hear of the coming of your salvation. Hear of he who shall show himself the chosen of your true gods and who shall heal what was broken by those who are false."
The Wise Woman's eyes met with Vayrin's and he stilled "He shall come from foreign shores and shall walk a sacred pilgrimage. His blade shall cut our foes, his words enlighten the unfaithful, and when his coming is over the web he shall spin will cover the land."
"A chance at redemption comes for all of our faithful, a chance for the bounteous paradise you have earned with your faith..." The Wise Woman/Azura whispered "Hear now the name of your redee-" The priestess clutched at her forehead and fell on her knees, blood leaking from her eyes, ears, mouth and nose.
Vayrin was already by her side by the time she had fallen, his magic working its wonders to heal her as much as he was able. The other wise women gave him grateful looks and the one in his hands blinked in surprise as she realized she was not thrown into unconsciousness.
A commotion broke out but was put down just as swiftly by the leaders of the clans "Wise Woman" The Ashkhan of the Zainab spoke up "What name were you given? Who has been so blessed by the gods to lead us all to salvation?"
The Wise Woman's eyes widened as she heard something which no one else could, she looked down no doubt contemplating something before giving a quick, reverent nod and speaking with a noticeable wheeze in her voice, each word coming out with visible effort "He who bears the blood of the irredeemable shall in turn be the only one capable of redeeming everyone else... Heed the words of Azura, and ready yourselves for the coming of Dagoth."
Shouts of outrage and the noise of weapons being drawn in fury passed by Vayrin as so much light breeze, he was too focused on the divine revelation granted to them, and the purpose in life he had just been given.
He would find this prophesized servant of the gods, and help guide them to their destiny.
Nothing else was acceptable.
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The plot thickens
and so does my hunger for stone!
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