"Fall back, fall back!" yelled one of the Psijic wizards as Einar parried an elf''s glaive and gave Caprifexia the chance to skewer them with a blast of dragon-fire. "We make our stand at the peak!"
As Caprifexia could have predicted, and had, the foolish mortals of the Psijic Order, Winterhold College''s, and proto-drake''s so-called defences hadn''t lasted long against the inevitable assault. Oh, sure, they''d killed a lot of vampires and quit a few of elves, but the minute that Mirael had finally shown up she''d obliterated the entire monastery, the raised walls, and what remained of the ward defences in a single massive blast of Void energy.
Caprifexia had survived, of course, because she hadn''t wanted to take part in the defence anyway, even before they''d turned down her offer to command it, and then slanderously judged her ''too unreliable and immature'' to have a section of wall herself, or actually even be present. She''s… been holding herself in reserve at the peak, where the real fight was going to be. Yes. That was it. In reserve.
Einar too, was well. She''d made sure of that. Other than that, however, only a handful of wizards, J''zargo thankfully amongst them, had managed to survive, regroup and begin retreating further up the mountainside. Of Serana there was no sign, which made Caprifexia a bit sad. The bloodsucker had been disgusting and vile and rude and mean, but they''d not been entirely irritating all the time. Sometimes she''d even recognised Caprifexia''s genius. It was a low bar, perhaps, but the world of Nirn and its mortal inhabitants were nothing if not disappointing.
Beside her another of the battered psijic wizards fell with a scream as a vampire''s ice lance took them in the chest. On her other side J''zargo deflected a disc of dark energy, riposting with a blast of lightning and knocking a nasty elf soaring off the edge of the mountain.
"You are not match for J''zargo!" said the cat, his tired, but still ringing with absurd triumphalism. "He is the mightiest wizard in Skyrim!"
"Not everyone else is dead yet," sniffed Caprifexia, conjuring a bolt of fire and hurling it at an advancing elf. They managed to raise their shield in time, but it still knocked them back several meters down the churned snow slope.
"The small dragon, is as usual, deluded," he began, deflecting another blast of magic. "J''zargo is- look out!"
Caprifexia''s head snapped around. Time seemed to slow down as she saw a blast of crimson magic streaking up the snowy slope toward her. She flared her wings to dodge, even as she knew that it was no use. The spell was going to hit her. She''d been distracted by the stupid cat-
Then something tackled her to one side, knocking her clear of the oncoming spell. She crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs as her… rescuer screamed in agony.
"J''zargo?" she said, shaking her head and looking up, her eyes widening to see her feline fiend yowling in pain as everything below his elbow dissolved into a sickly pile of tar-like goo, more lines of dark magic shooting up his arm.
He''d saved her? Taken the spell meant for her? But why? He was always chastising her, going on and on and on about her tiny, minuscule mistakes. About the fact that he, deluded as he was, thought he was the better mage. She''d thought he didn''t like her?
"J''zargo!" shouted Einar, turning from where he was further up the slope and making to go and help him.
"I''ve got him!" said Caprifexia, transforming as her heartbeat hammered in her ears, audible over a distant Faceless scream and the annoyingly loud time-chimes that she assumed were a side effect of whatever reckless temporal-magic the Psijic Order were casting in the battle.
"Nublias!" she shouted, hurling a bank of choking smog down at the advancing forces. Behind her eyes she felt a stab of pain, the herald of an oncoming migraine, courtesy of the massive amount of magic that she''d slung covering the mortal''s retreat up the mountainside.
The smoke didn''t last long, not on the side of an exposed mountain and facing dozens of spellcasters, but it held long enough to cover her as she grabbed the arm-less cat and tossed him over her shoulder. In his typically ungrateful fashion he howled in pain from the sudden movement, but she ignored him as she sprinted up the slope heading toward the crest of the peak where Einar and the others were attempting to form some kind of battle-line.
Spellfire whizzed around her, but the villains were poor shots, and she reached the peak without having her back blown out, lowering the injured feline behind their line and propping him up against a rock as she inspected what was left of his arm.
"Why did you do that?" she said angrily. "I could have dodged!"
"You could not have," said J''zargo, whining and holding his stump with a trembling hand.
"Stop being so melodramatic, let me see," she said.
"J''zargo is not- is not melodramatic!" gasped the cat, closing his eyes as she a diagnostic charm and letting the magic sink into his arm. Immediately the magic began reporting what was happening, and although Caprifexia wasn''t particular familiar with mortal-cat physiology she could tell immediately that it was very, very bad.
"There is a secondary curse, it''s attacking your body," said Caprifexia, her heartbeat growing even louder as she saw the way the magic was continuing to tear its way into his body. "Hold still, I will dispel it."
She wove together a counter-curse and pushed it into the cat''s body, trying to overwhelm the invasive magic. For a moment the dark energy stalled against her masterful magic before, somehow, pushing past her spell and reasserting itself with a vengeance.
"It- it isn''t working!" she said in a high pitched voice as J''zargo moaned in pain.
Her second spell had no more effect than her first, and she felt herself behind to panic. With a snarl she dug deep, this time overloading the counter-curse matrix and sending it surging down into her friend''s body. For a moment the curse resisted, before all at once it shattered, and the cat''s eyes snapped open as lines of silver light lit up beneath his fur.
J''zargo''s breathing became slightly easier, and she slumped in relief.
"There," she panted, a vicious headache pulsing behind her eyes. "Got it. Easy."
Overhead there was a whoosh of displaced air, and the two surviving proto-drakes, Aldoon and Paarthurnax, passed by, fire billowing from their maws in a pale imitation of true dragonfire as they ignited the path, roasting dozens of elves and vampires.
Even though it was only a moment''s respite, they weren''t going to be immediately overrun. Perhaps with the admittedly actually quite powerful lizard''s help then maybe, just maybe, they might even be able to stop them…
Her hopes were dashed a moment later, as a blast of Void magic erupted from somewhere beneath them, shooting through the air and catching Paarthurnax in the torso as he wheeled around for another pass. The reality eating magic tore straight through the ancient reptile, and he plummeted from the air without a sound, vanishing into a bank of cloud a moment later. Of course, maybe they could have stopped the vampires and nasty elves, but Mirael was beyond the pathetic faux-dragons. She was beyond any one them, even Caprifexia, for the moment at least.
Aldoon roared in anger, and turned toward where the blast had come from, but before he would try and use his silly ''Thu''um'' again, what Caprifexia assumed was the other Planeswalker released a pulse of blue-black energy that enveloped the proto-drake.
Cruel barbed dark metal chains erupted all across the black lizard''s form, digging into his body, pinning their wings, and binding their snout. Momentum carried them forward, and the peak shook as they impacted a moment later.
"What was that?" said J''zargo weakly.
"The proto-drakes dying," said Caprifexia hoarsely. "Of course, it was to be expected, they''re not proper dragons after all."
The cat grimaced, letting his head fall back onto the rock behind him. "The small dragon should run."
"What?" said Caprifexia. "Run?"
"This fight, even the mighty J''zargo could not win it," he said weakly, gripping her forearm with his remaining furry paw and fixing her with an intense look. "The dragon is angry, and annoying, and arrogant, but she is only a child. She has her whole life ahead of her. Go. Live. Tell the multiverse of J''zargo and his… magnificence…"
"No!" sobbed Caprifexia. "I won''t- I won''t leave you, you irritating cat!"
"Jz''argo is… not a cat…" he said faintly, his eyes fluttering shut.
"Hey! What are you doing?" said Caprifexia, shaking his shoulders. "I got the curse out!"
"J''zargo does not think it was enough," he said, forcing his eyes back open as blood began to trickle from the edge of his mouth.
"What are you talking about? The curse is gone; you''ll be fine!" she said, ripping off part of his robe''s sleeve and wiping the blood from his mouth. "See, you''re fine. You''re fine!"
"J''zargo feels cold," said the Khajitte. "J''zargo is… scared."
"Don''t be scared," she said, taking his remaining hand in hers. "I''m- I''m here, and in a minute, you''ll be fine! You''ll see! I''ll- I''ll take you to see Sorbet Melon! We''ll get your arm healed!"
His eyes shut again.
"Hey- hey," she said, shaking his shoulder. "Stay awake you fluffy mortal fool! Stay awake!"
J''zargo didn''t reply, and his grip on her hand grew weak. Behind her there was an explosion as another wave of villains hit their line, followed by another trio of deafening time-chimes.
"J''zargo!" she said, tears welling in her eyes as she shook his still body, the world around her seeming to spin. "J''zargo? No, no, no! I dispelled the curse! I dispelled the curse! Someone help me! Someone help me!"
No one came, and her throat tightened as she closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against his, hot tears hissing as they slid from her cheeks and onto his frost-specked fur.
He might have been insufferable, arrogant, and with a totally over-inflated view of his minuscule abilities. He might not have been nearly as tolerable as Einar, but they had fought alongside one another. He was her friend.
"Wake up!" she sobbed. "Wake up you stupid cat!"
He didn''t stir, and a feeling of numbness spread through her body. He was dead. Her friend was dead because she had been too slow, first to dodge, and then to dispel the curse. He''d died for her. It was wrong. Perverse. She was a dragon, she was the one who was supposed to protect mortals! Not the other way around. But she''d failed. Failed.
Who was she kidding? She was a whelpling. A child. Infinitely more intelligent and powerful than a mortal child, perhaps, but a child nonetheless. She wasn''t cut out for all of this. Dragons normally didn''t leave the nest until they were drakes, and she''d been forced to flee hers before she was even two!
J''zargo was right. She should leave. There was no Elder Scroll or anything else tethering her to this world. She could flex her might and open a portal to the Void. There was nothing she could do to turn the tide. This world was already lost, it had been lost the moment that Mirael had set her sights on it. Caprifexia raised a hand and summoned her spark, her body beginning to glow gold as she bought her power to bear and opened her mouth to yell for Einar and the others to follow her. At least she could save these people…
Then she stopped, and the glow faded as she clenched her fist.
No, she was a hero. Maybe she was only a whelpling, but her friends had thing or two about what that meant. Heroism wasn''t defined by age, or race, or even ability. J''zargo had only been a mediocre wizard, but he''d gone down swinging. He''d died a hero.
Heroism was doing the right thing: no matter the odds; no matter the risk; no matter the threat. And maybe she didn''t always know exactly what ''the right thing'' was all the time, but she knew that heroes did not cower, and heroes did not tuck their tail and run. Not when running meant abandoning an entire world to oblivion. She would not let all the mortals who had suffered and died on this mountain perish for nothing. She would find a way to defeat Mirael, save Nirn, and avenge J''zargo…
J''zargo.
A deep growl rumbled in her chest as she stood, her trembling hands beginning to shake violently as she balled them into fists. Numbness gave way to raw, incandescent fury, and pressure began to build within her chest as she turned toward the oncoming elves and vampires struggling up against the barrage of spellfire. Her heartbeat boomed like a drum in her ears, and anger unlike anything she had ever felt raced through her veins like quicksilver.
They had killed her friend.
They had killed her friend!
It didn''t matter that she probably couldn''t beat Mirael, that she was spiritually exhausted from casting so much magic, that she was tired and fatigued from weeks of poor sleep. None of that was important. Somehow, someway, she would make them pay for what they had done to J''zargo. She would crush and maim and tear and burn them for what they had done. She might fall, but like her ancestors of old she would go down raging at those who would threaten mortal-kind. She might have only been a young dragon, but she was still a dragon, and they would taste her rage.
Electricity crackled around her boots as a feeling of immense power filled her, blazing fire leaping to her hands and pluming high into the air around her. She roared, her mortal form''s voice totally eclipsed by draconic bass as she stepped over a fallen Psijic wizard, hurling a plume of white-hot flame. It struck an unprepared vampire in the chest, washing over their body, overloading their personal wards, and sending the undead fiend screaming and burning out over the side of the mountain.
Caprifexia raised her hands and poured her newfound-strength into the sky above her. Overhead thunder crackled and roiled as the elements bent to her power, and a blast of lightning as thick as a tree-trunk rocketed downward, smashing into the oncoming villains and frying half a dozen of the golden clad elves within their ornate armour.
Some small part of her noted that she had never had the reserves for such massive spellcraft before, but the rest of her was so unbelievably livid that all she could think of was how she was going to use to surge of power to annihilate the next damned cat-murdering villain.
Another bolt of lightning blasted downward, and the oncoming force hesitated as a group of vampires died screaming, collapsing into the snow a smoking corpses before bursting into piles of ash. Several more turned to run.
Caprifexia splayed her fingers and summoned another blast of fire…
Only for the immense well of rage-induced energy to abruptly run dry. The sky began to immediately clear, and the fire around her fists collapsed into a small puff of sparks.
''Oh,'' she thought, staring down at her empty palm as she realised what she''d done, and her previous magical fatigue reasserted itself. She''d finally managed to link with the ''land magic'' of a place, the chaotic, stormy energy of the peak beneath her. Sorbet Melon, and his books, had said that land magic was in part linked to temperament, and that Red was an ''emotional'' kind of energy. She''d thought it rather nonsensical before, but it seemed that her immense fury at her friend''s death had let her tap into the fabric of reality itself.
She could still feel the depleted, frayed link to the deep well of magic, but no matter how hard she drew on it it stubbornly refused to grant her anymore energy. The other side of the coin, although it hadn''t tired her to use, it was fixed and definite in the strength that it could lend her. Normally she would have felt elated at finally having mastered a tricky bit of magic, but now? Now all she felt was hollow.
Ahead of her the attackers began to regroup, and she ducked as one of them loosed an arrow straight at her, moving back as another member of the Psijic Order used some kind of temporal magic and the sky trembled with the sound of the telltale chimes signifying that someone, somewhere or when close was doing temporal magic.
"Capri, are you OK?" said Einar, catching her as she stumbled back to the line.
"They- they killed him," she said, her burning rage ebbing before a wave of grief. "They killed him!"
"I know, I know," he said, hugging her.
While dragons absolutely didn''t hug, Caprifexia was too upset to upbraid the silly little mortal for his breach of etiquette, and buried her face in his shoulder, tears flowing from her eyes.
"Listen to me Capri," said Einar, squatting down slightly so they were face to face. "Without Paarthurnax and Alduin we don''t stand a chance, this is… it''s over."
"What?" said Caprifexia, wiping her wet eyes. "No. I am a hero."
"Capri, you''re just a baby," he said. "You''ve got who knows how many millennia ahead of you. You''ve given it your best shot, you really have, but this isn''t your fight-"
"No," she growled. "No I say! I will not abandon this world. I will not abandon you. Maybe I might have made mistakes; I know I have not always been a… totally perfect hero. But I''ve learned, and I''ve listened, and I know that heroes do not run. Heroes do not abandon those who need protecting."
Einar was about to say something else cowardly, when behind them, where the last of the Psijic monks and Winterhold wizards were making their last stand, there was an ear-splitting explosion; Caprifexia, Einar, and a handful of wizards who weren''t immediately atomised were hurled dozens and dozens of meters across the snowy peak, rolling to a stop only a few feet from the opposite edge.
Caprifexia looked up, spitting out snow as across the body covered field of snow a familiar winged figure crested the rise. Behind her were several dozen elves and vampires, and a cart pulled by half a dozen miserable looking emaciated vampire-thralls. Atop the cart were a few crates, along with a large sphere, covered in cloth, but which Caprifexia immediately recognised as the ''Eye of Mangos,'' which Arakno the nasty, and now very dead, elf had stolen from her after he''d shown his true, villainous colours.
Behind the cart came another large object, which it took Caprifexia a moment to recognise as the bound form of the proto-drake Aldoon. He was still wrapped in the cruel conjured steel and being dragged across the snow by some kind of spell, staining the fluffy white crystals crimson, but still seemed to be alive.
Mirael was carrying the Bow of Audible in one hand, and looked over the field with an almost bored expression before she spotted Caprifexia.
"Oh Caprifexia!" said the angel, her villainous face breaking into a wide smile. "Hello! Fancy seeing you here!"
Caprifexia growled in response, and moved herself between the still insensate Einar and the evil Planeswalker.
"I really do have to congratulate you on that quick thinking," said Mirael, her voice light and bubbly. "Throwing an Elder Scroll at a Void spell? I thought it was inspired. Simply inspired. Although, only once I calmed down, of course. At the time I felt it was rather vexing. But, water under the bridge, eh? No hard feelings, yes?"
"You think I will- will just allow you to destroy this world?" said Caprifexia, struggling to her feet and bearing her fangs.
"Shall I deal with this pest?" said a male vampire who was dressed in particularly fine looking leather armour. Behind him were several other bloodsuckers, two of which were dragging a battered and burnt, but still faintly struggling woman who it took Caprifexia a few moments to recognise as Serana, who must have through what she could only assume was pure luck survived the destruction of the monastery.
"What?" said Mirael, glancing over to where the cart was being pulled to a stop and unloaded, the orb being carefully slid out onto the snow. "Oh, no, I need you for something else actually, my dear Harkon," she said, before motioning to the thralls. "Put it over there, away from the cart if you please. Ah, lovely."
"Something else?" said the fancily dressed vampire as the thralls dragged the orb toward the centre of the field.
"Yes," said Mirael, looking around the peak. "Interesting. The space-time around this peak is… ideal actually. Hmm. Very odd."
Mirael turned to Caprifexia and cocked her head to one side.
"One more thing. How exactly did you know that I needed Alduin for the ritual?" asked Mirael. "That''s one bit I haven''t been able to figure out, how you knew to try and protect him? I had this whole rather complex plan to capture him but, as it turns out, I didn''t need to use it at all!"
"Aldoon?" said Caprifexia, looking at the bound proto-drake.
"Come now, we both know you''ve lost, and I''ve won," said the angelic woman. "No point in keeping secrets. Don''t be a bore, do tell; it''s been bothering me the entire way up the mountain!"
"You… needed him?" said Caprifexia. "Not the peak?"
"What? No, of course not," said Mirael, looking around the flat snowy area. "I just wanted a relatively flat place for the ritual, and didn''t feel like walking back down that path. Although, it is quite a good space, thaumically speaking, I suppose. Dramatic too actually! I like that! But no, all I needed was the bow, the orb, the dragon, and the blood of a greater vampire."
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Blood of a Greater Vampire!?" snarled the male vampire, stepping toward the winged woman and raising a finger threateningly. "You said my daughter was not required! You promised me, Mirael."
"Hmm, what? Oh, no, she''s not needed. Or rather, not specifically," said Mirael, reaching over into the cart and withdrawing a fistful of golden, glass headed arrows from a crate. "Any Greater Vampire will do."
"Any-" began the man, before, quick as lightning, Mirael''s rammed the handful of arrows straight through the vampire''s chest and into his heart.
"Any Greater Vampire," repeated Mirael with a wide grin as the vampire''s eyes boggled in shock. "And look at that, lucky you, you''re closer."
"You- you-" began the vampire, before his eyes rolled back into his head and he burst into a cloud of dust.
"Lord Harkon!" shouted another of the blood-suckers as the undead creatures all drew their swords. "You traitorous cur, I''ll rip off your head!"
"Will you now?" said Mirael boredly.
She swiped her hand sideways at the advancing vampires, and a moment later the bloodsucker''s toppled apart as the thin band of Void energy cut straight through their torsos, bursting into clouds of ash and leaving just the prone, incredibly injured Serana who had been low enough to avoid bisection.
"Finally," said a nasty Thalmor elf in black and gold robes, toeing Serana''s father''s pile of ash. "Working with those parasites has been disgusting."
"Quite," said Mirael. "But they were useful."
"Indeed," said the elf.
"As were you, my lovely Ellisande," said Mirael, raising her free hand and pressing her thumb against her index finger. "Unfortunately, your usefulness has also run its course."
"W-what?" said the elf, taking a half step backward. "But you- you promised me- you promised us all immortality!"
"Yes, I did," said Mirael, still all smiles. "Unfortunately, I may have told a teensie-weensie lie."
"You promised me!" screamed the elf, scrambling away and conjuring a shield. "No, please-"
Mirael snapped her fingers, and elves howled in agony as twisted colourless flame raced up from their boots. Their cries, however, were drowned out by another set of three chimes that…
Actually, thought Caprifexia, why were the time-chimes still ringing? The Psijic mages were either dead or, from the look of it, unconcious. Certainly none of them were casting any magic. She would have been able to feel it.
Behind her the vampire thralls turned and ran, but they were apparently of no interest to Mirael, because she ignored them.
"Ahh, it does feel good to tie up loose ends," hummed Mirael, turning to Caprifexia and raising a hand coated in Void magic. "One more though. Terribly sorry, I really hate to snuff out another Spark, but I just can''t have you running around sabotaging my plans."
Caprifexia tensed, her mind racing. Part of her wanted to fight, to show this uppity winged woman the might of a dragon, but the larger part, the part that had grown as she''d learnt more about what it was to be a hero knew that she stood no chance in a fair fight.
But since when did black dragons, even heroic ones, fight fair?
So instead of fighting, Caprifexia raised her hands in surrender, and looked over the cart, her eyes fixing on a large, slightly charred scroll casing that had been haphazardly thrown into a box. A plan formed in her mind.
What was it that the so-called ''Master'' said? That Elder Scrolls, the ''Time Wound,'' and powerfully disruptive events could serve as ''powerful anchors''…? Lombardia and whatever that blonde time-meddling had been called had mentioned something about that back in Dimhollow, and she''d been hearing the chimes for hours, just like before the pair''s time-stopping appearance in the dingy cavern.
It was a bad idea. A terrible one even. She''d probably die long before she got a chance to pull it off. It might not even be possible to use magic in such a manner; she had learnt little about time magic beyond ''don''t.'' The chimes she''d been hearing might just have been the after effects of some chronomancy cast during the battle. And even if she did manage it, there was no guaranteeing that it would actually create a favourable paradox. After all, mighty though she was, she wasn''t a bronze dragon; an intuitive understanding temporal magic wasn''t a gift she had been born with.
But if there was even the possibily to save Einar world, she had to try. If there was a chance to avenge her feline friend and wipe the smile from Mirael''s villainous face, then she would take any chance, pay any price.
"I give up," said Caprifexia, raising her arms.
Mirael raised an eyebrow. "And you expect me to believe that?" she chortled. "Please dear, I know all about your hero complex."
"I know I can''t beat you," said Caprifexia, employing every ounce of her cunning diplomatic skill. "Being a hero was fun and all, but it isn''t worth dying over. Maybe I''ll try being an in-sor-ance sales-dragon instead."
"I believe it''s… ''insurance,''" said Mirael, still not lowering her fist full of Void magic.
"That''s what I said," said Caprifexia.
"This is a trick," said Mirael, looking at her askance. "You''re tricksy."
"Even if it were, we both know I can''t defeat you," said Caprifexia with a shrug. "You''re too strong. Well done, you win. You defeated a whelpling; congratulations, I bet you feel really pleased with yourself right now."
Mirael started. "You''re a baby?"
"A whelpling," said Caprifexia, shifting. The effort all but winded her, but she managed, and a moment later she resumed her true draconic majesty.
"Oooh, you''re sooooo cute!" cooed Mirael, releasing her hold on the Void magic and making a disturbing ''squee-ing'' sound as she rocked back and forward on her heels. "Look at your little wings! Your darling tail!"
Despite herself, and the fact that she was engaged in masterful heroic trickery, Caprifexia glared. "I am not cute!"
"Well, if you''re a child, then I suppose I can be lenient," said Mirael with a wide grin, waggling her finger at Caprifexia. "Although you best behave yourself, you hear? My affection for my fellow Planeswalkers only extends so far."
"So you''re going to kill two of the local SABIGISMFs?" asked Caprifexia, flapping over to Mirael before transforming back into her horned elven form. She wobbling slightly from the strain, and almost fell over as she bent down to pick up on of the arrows stained with Serana''s father''s blood and making a show of inspecting it.
"The what?" asked Mirael.
"Sufficiently Advanced Beings are Indistinguishable from Gods to Idiotic and Superstitious Mortal Fools," explained Caprifeixa. "It''s a dragonym."
"Hah, I like that!" said the cheerful villain. "Yes, that''s the plan: Akatosh and Magnus. Should be enough to get the ball rolling."
Caprifexia refrained from correcting the linguistically challenged villain as to the name of the so-called Gods. "So you kill them, lower the VIQ-"
"The what?" asked Mirael.
"The Void Integrity Quotient," explained Caprifexia.
"Oh, a strange way to put it," nodded Mirael, infusing some Void magic into one of the arrows with a seemingly simple charm. "But yes, I''ll kill them, and then the Eldrazi will be able to enter this world freely. The real trick will be to shore up the plane so it doesn''t collapse entirely once they''re done purifying its mana. But don''t worry, I''ve done this before. I''d go so far as to say I''m an expert."
"So you use the bow and the arrows?" asked Caprifexia.
"And a little charm," grinned the angle, waggling the faintly glowing arrow. "Took a lot of research to figure this out, I can tell you! But, you know, that''s half the fun!"
"And then shoot the orb and… the sun?" said Caprifexia.
"The bow is only really needed for reaching the sun, the vampire blood and the Void charm is what will do the actual killing, the former to bypass their ''Divinity,'' the latter to actually slay them," said Mirael, nodding to the impaled Alduin. "And after that, Alduin. If I don''t kill him I''m pretty sure Akatosh will find a way to regenerate. Time– what did you call them, ''Sabigims?''"
"SABIGISMFs," corrected Caprifexia, not surprised that the evil villain couldn''t comprehend simple and succinct concepts.
"Ah yes, that was it," nodded Mirael. "Time-''SABIGISMFs'' can be tricky. Got to really work to make them stay dead. There was this one plane a few hundred years ago, what was it called… Feldaria, I think? Anyway, this God of Time reincarnated himself eight times! I just kept on killing him, over and over and over, but each time, bam, back up he pops. In the end I just imprisoned him and found another way to destabilise the plane."
"I see," said Caprifexia carefully, watching as Mirael knocked the arrow onto the string.
"Capri, stop her!" called Einar from where he had fallen. "Stop her!"
Mirael turned to look at her, clearly expecting Caprifexia to try what Einar had said.
"I can''t," said Caprifexia with a shrug, earning a wide smile from the villain. "She''s too strong."
"There''s a good girl," said the angle, aiming the bow upward.
There was a twang beside her, and Caprifexia looked up to see the arrow vanish into the heavens. In the distant there was an agonised howl, and beside them Alduin let out a deep, keening sound as a colourless spot appeared at the centre of the sun. The twisted wound writhed, and began to gnaw its way outward across the celestial body until from horizon to horizon all of mountainous skyrim was plunged into a sickly white and purple twilight.
From the edges of the gaping wound in the sky thin tendrils began to slowly worm their way out, reaching hungrily for the reality that had been opened to them. The air around them shimmered, and sheaths of golden light began to burn them away as that shadow of a giant bearded figure appeared in the sky. But no matter how many tendrils whatever the so-called ''God'' was called burnt away, more and more came.
To a wizard as mighty and as in tune with the Void as Caprifexia, the shift was palpable. The space around her, already feeling stretched from the ''Time Wound'' above her, shuddered, and pulled even thinner. She''d never experienced before, but she knew without checking that the world''s VIQ had just been drastically lowered.
"And now for Magnus," hummed Mirael, taking up another arrow and casting the same Void imbuing charm onto it. "I really was lucky that old Arcano found this, you know, I was about to give up on this world and find another."
"Really?" said Caprifexia, surreptitiously edging over to where the Elder Scroll had been stuffed on the cart, hoping that Mirael wasn''t paying attention to her.
"Really," nodded Mirael, turning her back entirely to Caprifexia. "That would have been quite vexing, let me tell you. I spent the better part of a decade convincing the Thalmor to take me seriously. And don''t even get me started on the things I had to do to get those disgusting vampires onside!"
Caprifexia edged closer to the Elder Scroll, glancing over to Einar, whose eyes were wide, darting between her and Mirael. She nodded to him, and, for once, understanding entered his eyes.
"You''re- you''re a monster!" said Einar, for once following her lead and drawing Mirael''s attention. "Don''t the lives of non-Planeswalkers matter to you at all?"
"Not really," said Mirael, her tone still light and jovial. "You''re all just… blips; moments that vanish like dust in the wind. But Planeswalkers? Little Caprifexia and I? We are the true Gods of the Multiverse. We and we alone are capable of fully grasping the scope, majesty and power of creation. You mortals? Even your Gods? You''re nothing but limited, blind, bound insects buzzing within the confines of tiny cages. Your fleeting lives, worlds, they are nothing compared to us." Her voice took on a wistful aspect. "You know, I am so glad I didn''t have to hurt dear little Caprifexia; now that would have been a tragedy."
"But you were once a non-Planeswalker too!" said Einar as Caprifexia reached the cart and lent over the edge, grabbing the Elder Scroll. It crackled ominously as her fingers closed around it, and seemed to be a bit burnt around the edges, but Mirael was far too distracted by Einar to notice the discharge. "You had a home, a family!"
"Oh please, even then I was so far beyond the likes of you," said the winged woman, rolling her eyes as she raised the bow and aimed it at the Eye of Mangoes. "I am an angel, a Divine Being, not some disgusting, mud-crawling monkey like you. I have no idea why Caprifexia puts up with you."
There was another twang, followed by the sound of shattering glass, and Caprifexia nearly stumbled and fell as a shockwave washed over her and, from one moment to the next, the ambient magic in the air simply vanished. The only magical energy she could feel was her single link to the mountain beneath her, and far beyond that, the terrible empty energy of the Void itself.
It was something that Caprifexia had never felt before, never even contemplated. A world without magic, or at least, non-land magic. Despite her precarious and time sensitive plan she flinched, her mind trying to process what had happened as she looked up to see the veiled figure in the sky near the open Void wound scream and disperse into motes of darkness. The writhing tentacles, no longer contained, surged forward, cracking and fracturing wherever they touched and letting in more of the eerie un-light from the Void.
"Don''t say her name!" spat Einar, who as a feeble non-wizard had been unaffected by the death of this universe''s native magic. "She''s a filthy turncoat! A coward!"
"Oooh, hit a nerve, did she?" said Mirael with a laugh as Caprifexia shook herself and continued to sneak over toward Aldoon.
For a moment there was a flash of hope in the giant proto-drake''s red eyes, perhaps because maybe he thought Caprifexia was going to free him. The look, however, shifted to terror as Caprifexia very, very carefully reached down, past the borders of reality, and replicated, as best she could, the charm that Mirael had cast to imbue the Void magic into the arrow.
Since it was her first attempt at the spell, understandably it was only mostly perfect, and she only nearly lost control of the spell and blew herself up. There was still a crackling sound and shower of sparks accompanied the pulse of energy as a migraine stabbed behind her eyes, but the magic sank in and held. It would work. She hoped.
Mirael, who had been laughing at Einar stopped and turned, sensing the magic, and Caprifexia knew that she had mere moments to complete her plan.
The small heroic dragon raised the bloody, Void-soaked arrow in her right hand, and hoping she wasn''t about to do something very, very stupid, plunged it down into Aldoon''s eye. The proto-drake howled in agony as the arrow bit deep. Caprifexia tensed, slowly turning her head to see a confused looking Mirael as the giant faux-dragon spasmed and died, lines of colourless light surging and tearing through the veins beneath his scales.
Nothing happened, and Caprifexia felt her heart fall as the seconds ticked by, the hope that her future self might be able to use the situation she had created waning by the second.
It hadn''t worked. Maybe she never lived long enough. Maybe she died in the next few minutes. Maybe what she had planned was impossible. Maybe the chimes hadn''t meant what she thought they had. Maybe the Elder Scrolls, despite how hyped up they were by the local mortals, were just rubbish.
"I mean… that works," said Mirael with a giggle. "Although I wasn''t expecting you to be so enthusiastic about helping me so quickly. You know, my dear little dragon, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…"
The winged woman trailed off as three deafening chimes, louder than ever before, rang out across the sky. Mirael''s wings flared as she turned around in a circle, her head snapping this was and that until her piercing blue eyes fell on the scroll clutched in Caprifexia''s left hand. For a moment she looked confused, before her face twisted into a mask of incandescent rage.
"You duplicitous, wretched little bitch-" snarled the evil Planeswalker, arcs of gold and black lightning crackling around her as she raised a Void-wreathed hand.
A beam of colourless light left Mirael''s hand, and as it streaked across the distance between them Caprifexia realised she was going to die. Rather than a feeling of fear, however, a strange sense of peace and calm fell over her. Maybe she''d never grow into a Wyrm, maybe she''d made mistakes, but in that single, seemingly infinite moment she knew that she''d finally lived up to her people''s ancient legacy. She was going to die, but as a protector of mortal-kind. She''d failed, but she was only a whelpling, and it had been a long shot. She''d done her best. She''d stood tall. She hadn''t run. She would die like a true dragon of old.
Then she frowned as the deathblow didn''t come, glancing around as colour bled from the world. The bolt of deadly magic was still there, but had slowed to a crawl, and Caprifexia took a step to the side, watching as it crawled through the space she had been occupying until a moment beforehand. Other than herself, only Mirael remained unaffected and properly coloured in. The villain blinked several times, looking between her hand and Caprifexia.
"Stupid fucking chronomancy," swore Mirael, hurling another blast of Void magic forward, only for it to come to slow to a virtual stop a few centimetres in front of her. "Stop stalling! We both know you can''t hold this for long!"
"This isn''t…" said Caprifexia, before clearing her throat. "I mean, um, tremble- err, you''re not really a mortal are you? Um, tremble, im-mortal, at my fearsome temporal might-"
"Shut up you stupid little girl!" shouted Mirael, slamming her fists together before drawing a blazing golden sword out from nothingness. "Fine, if I can''t use magic, then I''ll do this the old fashioned way!"
Caprifexia yelped as the winged woman flared her wings and lunged at her, rolling out of the way of a decapitating strike and shifting back into her true form.
"Come back here!" yelled Mirael as Caprifexia flapped away across the frozen, grey-scale peak.
"No!" retorted Caprifexia, cleverly, as overhead there were another trio of charms, even louder than before.
Mirael lunged at her again, but before she could strike there was a flash of light above Caprifexia, and a golden aperture opened a few feet above her head. The Elder Scroll was ripped from her claws a moment later, and then there was a yanking sensation from behind her navel as she suddenly found herself hurtling upward through a shimmering golden vortex.
Energy swirled around her as she hurtled upward, flashes of scenes visible between the writhing and churning magic: a forest here; a town there; a woman washing clothes in a river; a giant wooly elephant thing… all flicking past at a speed that even for a dragon was dizzying.
Something dark and maybe mortal-shaped flashed past her, moving in the opposite direction, although it was moving to quickly to make out any details.
Then, from one moment to the next, the vortex vanished and she crashed into the snow. Coughing and spluttering as she looked around.
The enraged sword wielding Mirael, the broken Eye, the now very dead Aldoon, Einar''s hopeful face, poor J''zargo''s crumpled body, and Serana''s battered form had all vanished. Even the peak didn''t seem to be there anymore, and she was instead perched on a precariously floating island high in the air.
Overhead the sun shone bright and strong, as if Amanosh had never been slain. Below her lay a huge perfectly circular ocean where most of the region of Skyrim should have been. In places sheer cliffs that looked like perfectly bisected mountains fell away, as if some giant being had taken a knife and simply cut through them. In the far north east, Caprifexia could see sheered off remains of what looked like the mountains above Winterhold, which she had trudged up what felt like years ago alongside Arakno the nasty and treacherous elf. The water glistened in the sunlight, and she spotted a sailing ship making its way across the vast circular sea.
There was a sniff behind her, and she turned to see a familiar, frozen fruit loving vampire looking at her with a mix of sadness and triumph, the same slightly charred Elder Scroll that had just been wrenched from her grip moments beforehand laying in the snow by his feet.
"Sorbet Melon…?" said Caprifexia woozily, pushing herself up. "What are you doing here?"
"I forgot you used to call me that," said the vampire with a hoarse chuckle as he wiped at a teary eye. "Night, you were an annoying child."