Vanyel casts Clairvoyance, illuminating the correct path through the winding tunnels. That pervasive haze and sense of wrongness grow stronger the longer they walk, reaching a head when they arrive in a large circular room, unlike anything they've seen yet. In the middle on a slightly raised platform is a pedestal bearing yet another of the strange statues - and at the statue's feet rests a small, ordinary-looking black book.
"That book," Frea says softly. "It seems wrong, somehow. Here, yet... not. It may be what we seek."
"Only one way to find out," Vanyel replies, walking up to the pedestal. The energy surrounding the book feels oddly familiar, but it's only once the the thing falls open in his hands that he recalls - it's the same feeling he got when Septimus Signus handed him the Oghma Infinium. He tries to set the book down or at least close it, but too late. A tentacle emerges from the pages and latches onto him, binding his arms. And Vanyel abruptly finds himself... elsewhere.
He comes to on his knees, being held there by two creatures he can't identify. Standing before him is the man who stole the dragon's soul back in Raven Rock - Miraak. "Who are you to dare set foot here?" He demands.
But before Vanyel can even think of replying, he answers his own question. "Ahh... You are Dragonborn. I can feel it. You've even slain Alduin, well done. Yet you have no idea of the power a true Dragonborn can wield. Mul... Qah Diiv!" The main visual effect of the shout is that it cloaks Miraak in ethereal armor that looks like dragon scales.
"This realm is beyond you," Miraak continues. "You have no power here. And it is only a matter of time before Solstheim is also mine. I already control the minds of its people. Soon they will finish building my temple, and I can return home." Then, to the creatures holding Vanyel, he says, "Send him back where he came from. He can await my arrival with the rest of Tamriel."
He sweeps away, and the creatures cast some sort of spell that sees him blacking out again.
In the temple, the tentacle retreats and the book drops from suddenly nerveless fingers. Vanyel backs toward Garyn and Frea, eyeing the thing warily.
It was my turn to write a novel, apparently >.> Let me know if you'd rather I cut any of this
"That book," Frea says softly. "It seems wrong, somehow. Here, yet... not. It may be what we seek."
"Only one way to find out," Vanyel replies, walking up to the pedestal. The energy surrounding the book feels oddly familiar, but it's only once the the thing falls open in his hands that he recalls - it's the same feeling he got when Septimus Signus handed him the Oghma Infinium. He tries to set the book down or at least close it, but too late. A tentacle emerges from the pages and latches onto him, binding his arms. And Vanyel abruptly finds himself... elsewhere.
He comes to on his knees, being held there by two creatures he can't identify. Standing before him is the man who stole the dragon's soul back in Raven Rock - Miraak. "Who are you to dare set foot here?" He demands.
But before Vanyel can even think of replying, he answers his own question. "Ahh... You are Dragonborn. I can feel it. You've even slain Alduin, well done. Yet you have no idea of the power a true Dragonborn can wield. Mul... Qah Diiv!" The main visual effect of the shout is that it cloaks Miraak in ethereal armor that looks like dragon scales.
"This realm is beyond you," Miraak continues. "You have no power here. And it is only a matter of time before Solstheim is also mine. I already control the minds of its people. Soon they will finish building my temple, and I can return home." Then, to the creatures holding Vanyel, he says, "Send him back where he came from. He can await my arrival with the rest of Tamriel."
He sweeps away, and the creatures cast some sort of spell that sees him blacking out again.
In the temple, the tentacle retreats and the book drops from suddenly nerveless fingers. Vanyel backs toward Garyn and Frea, eyeing the thing warily.