[Dwemeri] 6 – Discussions

After being captured once again by the strange Human men and women in costumes, they placed me within a strange cell with a metal table. I could feel Hermaeus's attention through our pact, and I could tell he was not happy and was growing impatient. Part of our pact involved my supplying him with new knowledge from the dimension I have found myself thrown in, but I haven't had the chance to give him anything worthwhile.

While I felt that I could have escaped this imprisonment if I used all of the Magicka I had in my body, I reluctantly surrendered willingly, as what I sensed from some of the beings that captured me sent warning signals through my mind.

One of the figures, a woman in strange, revealing armor, exuded a sense of the Divine, another resembled an Archmage, and yet another embodied a concept given form. I didn't want to risk trying to teleport away only for those figures to catch me immediately after, drained and exhausted. Better to surrender and save as much of my Magicka as possible for a future escape attempt.

That wasn't the only reason I sat still; however, I could feel hundreds of enchantments, runes, and spells carved and hidden within the wall of this cell. More than likely, I was betting that if I dared even to conjure a single spell, I'd end up as ash on the ground, if not worse, but before I could continue that line of thought, the door to my cell slid open and three figures stepped inside.

The first was a male human in black armor with a pointed helm that revealed the lower half of his face. The second was the woman with the hint of the Divine, and the last was a man in a strange jester's outfit that I felt the Magicka rivaling an Archmage from.

The three stood before me, and as I examined them, I could feel them examining me. However, my focus was easily drawn to the strange artifact that resembled a golden rope on the woman's hip. Why would one of the Divine waste so much of their essence on rope? I could even feel Hermaeus's disgust radiating through our pact as it came to the same conclusion.

"Why, in the name of Atherius, did one of the Divine make that?" I asked outright, looking at the rope with pure disgust.

None of them answered; instead, the woman took hold of the rope, and faster than I could react, she tossed the rope, or laso as I soon realized around me, trapping me in its rapidly tightening golden light.

"What is your name? What are you?" The woman asked, and before I could do anything but struggle against my bindings, my mouth moved for me.

"Machavin Inravnorz of Clan Inravnorz. I am of the Dwemeri, or Dwemmer as the Man-Folk of the surface call us." I spoke against my will, only increasing my fervor in getting out of this.

"Stop this!" I shouted in anger, my Patron's anger beginning to rise like my own, for he was the Lord of Secrets

Through our pact, I could feel it begin pouring its power through our bond to try only for the Archmage to make his move, speaking in a language we had not heard before that forcibly cut off my connection with my Patron.

Feeling the loss, I cursed in my native language, and before I could begin conjuring up my Magicka to defend myself, the man in black armor finally spoke as they stepped forward and took a seat before me. 

"We mean you no harm. We merely wish to ask you a series of questions with truthful answers. You are an unknown and possibly alien entity with a pact to an Eldritch being. You have shown that you will kill, so we have taken measures to stop you from using your magic or your patron's gifts until we know you are not a threat to this world. Do you understand?" The man asked, raising his hand and silently ordering his two allies to stop.

I sat in silence for several moments as all three stared at me before reluctantly nodding.

The man in black armor began his questions.

"Do you wish to harm, destroy, corrupt, or damage this world and the inhabitants in any way, shape, or form? Either through your own magic or through your pact?" The man in black armor clarified.

"I do not. I only desire to protect myself and prepare for my return home," I uttered out, still forced to speak but managing to control somewhat of what I said.

The man in black nodded before continuing with, "Where do you come from?" 

"A different reality," I uttered, managing to avoid saying its name.

"Another Earth or a different dimension?" The man clarified.

"Another dimension," I reluctantly answered my wardens.

"And you only seek to return to your home dimension? Why?" The man asked.

"I do, because I am the last of my kind," I spoke, shocking the woman and the jester while the man in black armor only narrowed their eyes under their strange helmet.

"How?" He asked, and this time I did not try to skirt around the answer, "Arrogance. A group of my kind wished to forge their own God. Only to erase my kind from the world, leaving behind our cities and constructs."

"If this...project erased your kind from your home dimension, how did you escape?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

"My Patron warned me of what was coming and offered a deal, a deal I accepted after much negotiation," I answered truthfully.

"Who and...what is your Patron?" He asked.

"A Daedric Prince, one of seventeen that occupy Oblivion, a dimension connected to my own. It has many names: the Daedric Prince of Forbidden Knowledge, the Demon of Knowledge, the One Who Knows, the Master of the Tides of Fate, the Gardener of Men, Prince of Fate, Lord of Secrets, the Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge, the Golden Eye, the Great Eye, Ur-Daedra, the Abyssal Cephaliarch, the Tide King, and a great many more titles and names he has obtained over the eons," I answered, reciting each title by memory.

The two allies of the man in black armor frowned while he asked, "Will he be a threat to us?"

"Without a doubt, but his sole connection to this dimension is me; he cannot interact with anything in this realm outside of what I choose to observe, learn, or do with my own two hands," I answered honestly, knowing just how dangerous the Prince of Knowledge was.

The three looked at one another before the man in black abruptly stood up from his seat, "We will discuss, we will be back shortly."

When they left the room, I felt the bond with Hermaeus Mora reconnect, and I could sense its growing agitation over my situation.