Chapter 719: Miraak's Visage
Chapter 719: Miraak's Visage
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Winterhold under attack? Again?
"What is this? A fucking time record?!" Jon's anger blasted through the roof and he marched ahead like a force of nature, kicking and breaking whatever was in his way.
Shadow and Nefertiti watched him go and they looked at one another while sighing.
"Tell him I have something to tell him once he is done." Shadow spoke to Nefertiti before disappearing away.
As for what Jon came here for, he has already cleared the Shadow Gate from the Hungry Ghosts before dropping the chest containing the Oghma Infinium. The initial plan was to keep the Oghma Infinium here to trap it away from Hermaeus Mora's authority and find out what he was trying to hide from Jon.
As for Jon, he managed to get out of the Shadow Gate, grabbed the Shadowkey to close the gate, and teleported himself to the surface outside the College of Winterhold.
As soon as the fabric of the aether twisted and Jon walked out of his teleportation while facing south, he appeared in front of a gathering of people that was, opposite to him, facing the north direction and looking up at the sky.
The atmosphere was weird and sickening unlike anything ever seen in Winterhold. Jon looked up and turned around to see the sky have turned green. There was no such thing as an attack on the city but Shadow's words were clear.
Something is coming.
Jon spread his passive detection all around him and found that the Troopers and the Guards were already acting on standby while loading out anti-vampire weapons. The attack of the Night Legion at the western gate of Saarthal was just last night and 12 hours haven't even passed yet.
But then change happened.
The sky, which was sickly green, started to be dense with dark clouds. Its appearance wasn't like a natural storm and it felt like it was holding something menacing.
Before all eyes, the clouds started to take form and as if a face was peeking down from the sky, the clouds came together to form that face in great detail.
It was no ordinary face, it wasn't human, elven, or beast, it was that of something eldritch and everyone could see looking at them with green eyes.
Jon saw the visage in the sky and recognized it immediately. It was the visage of a mask shaped with tentacles and tendrils into something alien as if it was some twisted version of something ancient.
It was the visage of Miraak.
And then the sky shook with the power of Thu'um.
{NIZAH DOVAHKIIN! IMPOSTER DRAGONBORN! BOW BEFORE THE ONE TRUE DRAGONBORN! MIRAAK WILLS IT!}
The visage words shook the sky and bound through the heavens. They were heard in Windhelm and Dawnstar and a sensation of Eldritch terror seeped into the hearts.
Then the visage in the sky opened its mouth and many pillars of smoke descended towards Winterhold. As each of them landed on the ground, a few figures would emerge from within.
It was one pillar of smoke after another and it seemed that many still followed. As more figures emerged and appeared to the eyes, one could see various men in brown robes who were wearing masks that looked like distorted versions of the visage in the sky. They held swords, evoked spells, and conjured daedric creatures.
The Cultists of Miraak.
"Get to the shelters!" Jon shouted at the crowd.
The people panicked and ran, the Cultists marched forward towards the innocent people having only Jon Dare as their protector.
Death and terror were to be sown this day but just before it all happened.
"Fire!"
*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*
Hundreds of crossbow bolts flew in volleys and targeted the cultists. Like a firing squad, the cultists were met with state-of-the-art weaponry, the Dare Troopers' LARC Mk.7, the latest Lever-Action Repeating Crossbow.
"You come to Winterhold and you expect us to just watch you sack our town?" A Trooper shouted.
"Die, you sons of dogs! Winterhold won't bow to the likes of you."
"Fucking Vampires! DIE!"
"These are not vampires, bro."
"Weren't vampires attacking yesterday?"
"Vampires attack at night, bro. These are crazy dragon cultists."
"DIE, CULTISTS!"
"Just shoot them already!" Wulfur shouted at the chattering troopers as he threw a handaxe at a cultist decapitating him right away.
Jon and Wulfur exchanged a nod as they oversaw the troopers wiping out the attackers. Once that was that, the troopers lined up for another round of fire after the remaining pillars of smoke descended from the sky.
"Want to see something fun?" But then, Jon asked in a voice that spoke to all of them.
They all looked at him and some feeling of wonder and anticipation spread around them all. Jon smiled and turned to the sky.
He took a deep breath and then…
"LOK… VAH KOOR!" (Sky, Spring, Summer)
The Clear Sky shout, one of the shouts Jon put a great effort into learning and once it was uttered by him, the world rumbled on a massive scale.
It was a very powerful shout even in comparison to the other shouts. Why? It is because it is a weather control magic, one of the most difficult magics there is.
The sickly atmosphere was gone and the clouds above Winterhold dissipated. But more importantly, the magic which supported the pillars that transferred Miraak's cultists into Winterhold was suddenly gone.
As for the smoke pillars that were descending from the sky, they immediately vanished but the cultists that were being transferred within them were where the pillars left them and that was at various heights above the city.
"It… it's raining people!" One trooper said.
"Goodness! The poor fools were taken off guard by the Boss!" Another looked away.
"This is going to be a scene to behold ." A third said.
And it was a scene to behold indeed. The cultists fell like rain and crashed on the mountain, in the sea, and on the stone buildings, where their backs snapped and their skulls splattered. Those who were lucky died before they crashed screaming and pleading in the name of Miraak, and those who weren't were the ones that survived the fall since they were the closest to the ground.
Jon watched and grinned. That was his doing.
However, he was thinking of the situation that just happened. The Cultists of Miraak came for him en masse, this wouldn't happen in the game this way and it never happened until Jon's identity as Dragonborn was announced to the public.
In the game, the cultists of Miraak would come after the Dragonborn when the Greybeards acknowledge and name him Ysmir. This happened long ago with Jon but the only thing that was different regarding that situation is the fact that Jon kept his Dragonborn identity a secret.
Now, even Miraak was drawn out after him.
But that wasn't everything, of course. The patron of Miraak is Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of Knowledge which Jon just took his artifact, the Oghma Infinium, forcefully.
So whether it is one thing or the other, Jon has made a new enemy but one he was ready for. Since the two Skaal children came for him seeking aid, it was also a matter of time anyway.
"Troopers!" Jon then shouted at his troopers, "Hear me!"
"Aye, Boss!"
"We hear you, Boss!"
"Hail, Dragonboss!"
"Troopers! Men and Women of Winterhold. It appears that the world is throwing all it can at us. Vampires at night, Villains at day, Dragons from the sky, Pirates from the sea, Dragon Cult above ground, Falmer underground, Daedra from beyond, Undead from beneath, and more and more monsters with claws and fangs that can cut into iron and stone."
Jon started his speech on the ground before swiftly jumping over a house.
"Our enemy this time is an ancient one. Not as ancient as Dragons but more ancient than vampires. Our enemy is… a Dragonborn."
All the troopers and the citizens that were all cheering suddenly quieted down and looked at Jon with disbelief.
"Yes, even I found it bizarre when I heard about him too. Two Dragonborns in the same age, bizarre and strange indeed. But only when you know the story of that turncoat Dragonborn, you will soon understand it all."
Jon decided to reveal it all to his people.
"Miraak, the first man to be Dragonborn was a Dragon Priest from the first age, the Divines gave him the power of Dragonborn so that he can free the men of the tyranny of the Dragons and bring the age of man. Miraak, however, had different plans. He turned against the Divines and surrendered himself to the Daedra, to the old man of the forest, the devil Hermaeus Mora. Miraak abandoned Skyrim when it needed him and wanted to gain more power and become immortal. Immortal he has become and he lived across the ages while Alduin was banished."
"Many Dragonborns rose and fell between Miraak's age and ours. He is the first, I am the last. He is the slave of Hermaeus Mora and in order to get free, he needs to exchange himself with another Dragonborn for Hermaeus Mora to let him go. Funny, right? I'm the one he wants."
"I've kept my identity secret as Dragonborn for reasons like this and so that Winterhold and its people don't get caught in my fights but our hand was forced and we have to make our move now."
"I, Jon Dare, shall descend from this rooftop, head northward to the sea, take a ship, and go to Miraak who is occupying Solstheim. I shall save its people from evil and deliver justice to Miraak at the rotten belly of Oblivion. Now, who's with me?"
"AYE!"
"LET'S KILL THEM!"
"WAR! WE GO TO WAR!"
"LET'S KILL THEM!"
Along with 500 warmongering troopers, Jon declared that he is marching on to Solstheim.
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