Believing that a small legion of vampires could prove useful in the fight against the forces of Chaos, I decided to take the remainder of Harkon's forces under my command. Ordering those who remained in the castle to recall all their allies in the field, I wanted everyone back here as soon as possible so I could see what I was working with.
"Does that mean you will spare our lives?", the blacksmith vampire asked, in a meek tone.
"Under the condition that you serve me from this day forth, I will spare all your lives. You will enjoy benefits and privileges you could have only ever dreamed of under Harkon's rule.", I said, pulling specialized wrist mounted device from my storage, "For starters, I will bestow upon each of you the ability to walk among humanity without fear of persecution or the sun. No longer will you need to cower in the shadows waiting for humanity to slaughter you. You can live as you once did during your former lives."
"What of our need to feed on blood? Will you force us to abstain from it?", one of the older vampires inquired.
"No, I will not rob you of your primary source of food. While I forbid you from sating your thirst on the innocent and our allies, you have my blessing to gorge upon my enemies and the wicked.", I answered, looking him the eyes, "I assure you, under my guidance and care you will never know hunger again."
Recognizing their patron deity's voice, the vampires present immediately swore their loyalty to me without a second thought. Satisfied with their pledges, I distributed the bracers to all of them and demonstrated how to cloak and disguise themselves. Getting the hang of it after a few tries, they wanted to head outside and give them a try.
"Wait…we will have to go onto the mainland to try these out. The sun has not graced this castle in several millennia.", an Ancient Vampire stated, with a disappointed look
"Allow me to remedy that.", I said, heading back out into the courtyard, "Lok Vah Koor!"
Using the Clear Skies shout to tear the cloud cover apart, rays of sunlight began to trickle down all around me. Looking back at the vampires, who were standing just on the edge of shadows, all of them stared nervously at the sunlight just millimeters from their feet.
"No longer are you captives of the shadows. Come, be apart of this wonderous world once again!", I beckoned them.
Engaging the cloaking mechanism in the bracers, the younger vampires hesitantly stepped outside with their eyes tightly. Waiting for the pain to hit them like usual, when that did not happen, they hesitantly opened their eyes and looked up at the sky for the first time in a long time.
(AN: For those of you curious, this is something the MC invented himself. It is loosely based upon the Holtzman Shield except this device is meant to discreetly block out all forms of radiation, which UV light is a part of.)
"Well, does it work?!", an Ancient Vampire asked, eager to know the results.
"Yes…it does…", one of the young bloods answered, still in shock that he was not in pain, "I do not feel even a slight amount of pain!"
Receiving confirmation that my gifts worked as promised, the remaining vampires quickly activated their bracers and rushed outside to take in the view. Listening to several of them begin to cry, as they had not seen the blue sky in countless lifetimes, they began singing praises for Molag Bal and I. Swearing to follow me to till the end of time, one by one they began to change into bats and fly off to spread the news among their kin.
"Alright Victor, I want the full truth out of you!", Serana said, still standing in the shadows, "My mother and I spent countless centuries researching a way to walk in the light again without forsaking our blessing, and came up with nothing. Just who the heck are all of you, and why are you really here?"
"As I said from the very beginning, my interest lies with the Elder Scroll affixed to your back. I wish to use it, along with the other scroll in my possession, to study and research time itself.", I answered truthfully, "The reason why we journeyed across the stars to come to this world is simple, the continued existence of the universe is at stake. We needed resources that could only be found on this world, namely the Elder Scrolls and Stalhrim, to better our situation in the intergalactic war raging out there amongst the stars."
"Wait…you are saying that all ten of you are not natives of this world?!", Serana inquired, looking at all of us with confusion.
"Aela and Lydia are natives of this world, the rest of us are from another world hundreds of light years from here.", I stated, looking her in the eyes, "Now then Serana, I would like to partner with your mother and you to further our mutual understand of magic and souls. As you hinted at a moment ago, both of you are well versed in magical research which makes you perfect individuals to assist me."
"You mean, my mother is still alive?!", Serana gasped, "Where is she!?"
Walking back inside, I motioned for everyone to follow me up to Valerica's laboratory. Clearing debris out of our way, I ordered Luxion to complete a thorough reconstruction of this castle as I wanted this castle to serve as a proper base for my vampire subordinates. Acknowledging my orders, he put the reconstruction in the calendar for next week.
"What are those things?!", Serana asked, seeing Cleare and Luxion for the first time, "Are they golems or something similar to the automatons the Dwemer created?"
"They are like the Dwemer Automatons, just thousands of years more advanced and much more sophisticated. Think of them as highly advanced and intelligent servants, though I personally view them as close friends.", I said, looking at Luxion.
"How interesting.", Serana commented, looking at them full of intrigue.
Forcing our way into the long-abandoned laboratory, as the door swung open, a cloud of dust engulfed all of us. Using Wind Magic to blow it all away, we entered the space and walked straight up to the magic circle drawn into the floor. Recognizing the pattern from their research, Serana pieced together where her mother had gone into hiding.
"Mother finished our research and managed to open a portal to the Soul Cairn…", Serana remarked, in disbelief.
"Correct, your mother has been hiding out there all this time. Since your father and his men were magic illiterate, they never realized she was hiding right under their noses.", I chuckled, "The notes for reopening the portal should be somewhere around here."
Searching the room for the notebook in question, Olivia found it lying under a pile of heavily worn books. Handing it over to Serana, she quickly flipped through the pages looking for the method to open the portal again.
"Here it is!", Serana said, setting the book down, "Let me grab the ingredients and tools I need!"
Scurrying around the room, Serana got everything in place and quickly reopened the portal. Overjoyed that it had worked the very first time, she nearly ran right in before I could stop her. Warning her that the Soul Cairn was fraught with danger, I suggested that we all go together to liberate her mother from her exile.
"Entering the Soul Cairn as a vampire is easy enough as our souls are held by Lord Molag Bal. For normal people, the only way to enter would is to be partially soul trapped. This would entail temporarily giving part of your soul to the Ideal Masters which could be quite dangerous.", Serana remarked.
"Haha, you are forgetting who you are with.", I laughed, with a playful smile, "Watch this, Spaan Revak Zii!"
(AN: This Thu'um means Protect, Sacred, Spirit respectively.)
Shielding our souls from the clutches of the Ideal Masters, I headed into the Soul Cairn without any further concerns. Following me down into the portal, my fiancées gave Serana a playful smile as they strolled right in. Curious what I had just uttered in the dragon tongue, she was about to speak up when Lydia chimed it.
"If you are having a hard time understanding all of this, you are not alone. I am still having a lot of trouble, just go with the flow and things should turn out alright.", Lydia remarked, with an understanding nod.
"Haha, I understand what you mean, this is certainly a lot to process all at once. That said, I am enjoying every moment I spend with them. For the first time I can remember, I am actually excited to see what tomorrow will bring.", Serana said, looking down at us, "You know, I never got to have friends growing up here. My father felt it was a complete waste of time and a nuisance to his plans. Now that I am getting to experience comradery for the first time...I never want to go back to the way things were before. I am now in full control of my future, and I think I will stick with them to see what the future holds for me."
"…*sigh*…clearly I must be the oddball of this group because I think this whole thing is crazy as heck.", Lydia laughed, "Come on, we should get going before they leave us behind."
Chasing after our group, Lydia and Serana told us to slow down so they could catch up.