1,416Another long wait. Now I've gotten a new job with better pay and more condensed hours. And benefits. Gotta get these teeth looked at.
Credit to xTRESTWHOx and NaanContributor , both of whom patiently waited on me to get back into it and help me along. Enjoy the read.
Chapter 95: The Lost and Forgotten
16th of Sun's Dawn
One of the first things that Team RWBYL found in Blackreach was a long-dead body and the building that had served as the long-gone person's base of operations before the Falmer's arrows found him. Luckily, notes and a journal helped to identify the mer as Sinderion.
"Why do I feel like I know that name?" Ruby asked no one in particular.
"I...think he was a character in that book," Blake said as she recalled Journey of the Heroes. "Might be a coincidence, but that Sinderion was doing nirnroot research as well."
"It would be a massive coincidence," Weiss concurred while flipping through pages. "Hm, his research wasn't concluded, but if we find someone else with decent knowledge of nirnroot, they could likely figure out the rest of what he was looking into and create this catalyst effect. Try to keep an eye and ear open for those things while we're down here," she requested while putting the journal away.
"Sure," Yang said with sarcasm building. "Between the Falmer, chaurus, and who knows what else, shouldn't be that hard to find some dark red plants in near-pitch darkness."
"Yes, I know it won't be simple, but I can't imagine with all the ground we'll have to cover that we won't find several samples." She closed the dead mer's journal and stashed it away. "Speaking of, should we get going?"
Ruby nodded before taking over. "Weiss is right. There's no telling how far we are from our goal, so we need to get a move on if we're going to find the Elder Scroll."
"What exactly are we looking for, in that regard?" Yang asked with a quick stretch. "We can't just check every door and house. That'd take forever. Even if we just check the ones reaching up to the surface, they could be an important, far-reaching factory fortress, or a fancy elevator like what Blake found on the way here."
"At least we've got an easy way back up," the Faunus figured, which prompted Yang to mumble under her breath about shortcuts found after the fact once again.
"Luckily, the Dwemer labeled everything," Weiss explained while taking out a leather folder and pulling a loose sheet of paper out. "While I only have some basic understanding of Dwemeri script, I was able to get the words for 'tower' and 'Mzark' tacked down with some correspondence double-checking it, just to be certain."
"Okay," Yang said while taking the paper in hand and studying the markings. "So keep an eye out for anything that resembles these words?"
"The first one, mostly. There's no telling how many 'towers' there are, or how many things are named as such."
"Better than going in blind."
Yang passed the paper back, and the crew made their way out of the hovel and back out into the cavern of Blackreach. Once again, they were nearly awestruck at the sight of the massive underground chamber. Wafts of blue mist rode on nearly imperceptible winds far above them, yet still far below the cave ceiling. As they left the house behind, the rolling hills and homes of the Dwemer could be seen stretched out before them, monuments to the legacy of their long-gone creators. The glowing city in the distance peeked in and out from behind massive natural columns, giving them some form of direction beyond the ancient paths and nearly illegible signs worn down by time.
Team RWBYL slowly made their way through the ancient neighborhood, passing some signs of Falmer occupation, which set them on edge. However, despite evidence of the creatures' presence, they had yet to spot any of the actual beings themselves.
"Does anyone else feel…like something's up?" Yang asked as they walked into a more open area with fields filled with mushrooms all about them.
"I do find it strange that no one is around," Weiss concurred.
"That party that took the expedition would have come through this area," Lydia said, pointing at the entrance they had used to enter Blackreach. "Assuming any of them lived here, they may have cleared out until they could shore up the defenses of this particular region."
"You think they were paranoid enough for that?" Ruby asked.
"We are talking about a race with a history of being killed and betrayed en masse," Weiss pointed out.
"Hold up," Blake suddenly said, her ears flicking as she held up a hand. "There's something…big."
"Another centurion?" Yang asked as they all reached for their weapons.
"I… Actually, no, I don't think so." She squinted while trying to focus on her hearing, then shook her head. "Give me a sec."
The Faunus ran to one of the houses at the neighborhood edge and leaped up onto its roof, making nary a sound. She looked out across the horizon for a moment, then beckoned her fellows, who walked up to where she had taken post.
"What's up?" Ruby asked her as they came close.
"It's a Giant," Blake answered simply, causing Ruby to blink a few times in surprise.
"...Like a Giant giant? Big guys of Skyrim? Jo'tunn?"
Blake leaped down before answering, "What other Giant would I mean? There's one walking along up the road."
"How did a Giant get down here?" Weiss wondered aloud, receiving shrugs from Ruby, Yang, and Blake.
"Guess we'll have to ask," Ruby figured while putting on her Giantspeak amulet and heading in the direction Blake had been looking. The team had to crest another hill before they spotted the Jo'tunn, but he was undeniably there. They continued their approach, and as they came close, the massive humanoid glared at them and puffed up defensively.
"Hey, it's okay," Ruby called out to the Giant, the amulet glowing as its magic translated her words. He raised his brow, but the tension had mostly left his stance, though he wasn't completely relaxed.
"What are little humans like you doing down here?"
"We were kinda wondering the same about you," Ruby explained. "We came down here searching for…an artifact, and then we just saw you and got curious."
The Giant let out a grumble that Ruby knew to be something like a hum to the large people before responding.
"I was watching over a calf. She strayed off and I went to bring her back home. I found her, but then a storm came in. No caves nearby, so we sheltered in a metal and stone building. I was planning to line it with bark when the rascal pulled some metal stick in the center, then the floor-ground lowered itself."
"Ah, that must've been one of those elevators," Ruby realized. "But…from what Weiss read, those things get locked and can only be unlocked when… Oh, you must have broken it open."
"Oh, so he can do it but not me," Yang muttered under her breath while crossing her arms after quickly realizing what Ruby was talking about, only for Blake to lightly elbow her in the side.
"Harder than most things, but I was desperate," he admitted. "Since this…deep cave was safe from the storm, I supposed we could shelter here and go back up after some sleep. But the calf ran off again while I napped."
"Oh, that's not good."
"Mind telling us what he's saying?" Yang requested. "You mentioned an elevator, but…"
"Oh, sorry guys. Uh, this guy here-"
"My name is Yggarn."
"Yggarn was watching a calf and took shelter from the storm in an elevator, but the calf pulled the lever and they came down here. He took a nap, but the calf ran off again. So…now you're looking for her?"
"Yes. I heard her trumpet a while ago, but I only know it's somewhere that way." He gestured towards the city. "Somewhere in the lightened area."
"That's…a risky place to go."
"Did he just indicate the city?" Weiss asked. "He thinks his mammoth wandered off into the place that's almost certainly a Falmer fortress?"
Yang shook her head. "Okay, there's no way it could be-" A high-pitched elephantine call cut her off, ringing out from the direction of the Dwarven settlement.
"That came from the city," Blake confirmed. "Near the center, off towards the southern side."
"I need to get there!" Yggarn declared. "If any of those bugs get at her, they could cripple her with their bites."
Ruby felt a tug at her heart and almost volunteered herself and the team on the spot, but stopped when she considered their current objective, their resources, and the risks involved. If they were right, then all the Falmer they had yet to see were holed up in that space in particular, and going there would be like stepping in an ant nest, only the ants were human-sized and had swords, bows, and magic. They could do it, almost certainly, but then the question of the Giant's safety or that of his mammoth became an issue, and Ruby doubted they could defend them from whatever force of Falmer could be fielded against them as they ran for the elevator.
Not to mention, whatever safety in obscurity Team RWBYL had would be shot.
"Hey, Rubes," Yang said, pulling her from her short reverie. "Just had a thought, can you give the big guy the amulet?"
"Huh?" Ruby held up the inscribed medallion of the device and looked it over. "Uh, we can try? Hey, can you put this on?" she directed to Yggarn before pulling off the amulet and offering it to him. She immediately felt silly when he took it in his massive hand, as it obviously wasn't about to fit around his neck. However, the Giant had noticed this as well and instead fit the necklace around his wrist like a bracelet.
"This is your magic translator?" Yygarn asked while looking over the device and his wrist, the words sounding as though they were layered over his Jo'tunn speech in a manner different from when Ruby wore it.
"Yeah, now we can all understand you, big guy," Yang confirmed for them. "So, your little mammoth needs rescuing?"
"We won't be able to retrieve it with him in tow," Lydia pointed out. "Something like this would require stealth and Giants…" She looked up at Yggarn. "You're not the quietest lot."
"You little ones can be quiet when you want to, though."
"So…we're all okay with this?" Ruby asked, receiving nods all around.
"Why wouldn't we be?" Blake asked.
"Just…worried about things. I got a bad feeling about that place, is all."
"It's almost certainly where the Falmer would have gathered," Weiss conceded. "Unless there's something about it that would have repulsed them, like that orb of light. What is that thing, anyways?"
Ruby shrugged, then looked over the city again, a plan formulating in her mind.
"All right, well, if we're doing this, we have to be extra careful. Let's find a vantage point and start coming up with some ideas."
Ruby and Lydia slowly made their way into the walled settlement that signs labeled as 'The Silent City'. At the same time, Blake scouted ahead, and Weiss flew far above. Yang stood at attention atop a nearby tower, ready to go wolf and charge in should things go pear-shaped, Yggarn not far from her. Blake's Nightingale vision let them know that there was a bevy of life signs deeper within, but everyone and everything was underground deep enough that those signals were faint. All except a few smaller creatures that were likely common fauna and one about the size and shape of a baby elephant.
The Dwemer streets were complex, with cross bridges, ramps, stairs, and intersections everywhere. Part of Ruby couldn't help but marvel at it all, and knew that Professor Oobleck would kill to personally explore it for himself. As she paused near one particularly complicated section, she pushed a finger to her earpiece.
"Weiss, need some direction," she requested, and her partner immediately provided what was being asked for.
"To your left, lower ramp," their aerial oversight instructed. "Gods, I knew Dwemer liked mind-benders, but I didn't think that extended to their city planning."
"Well, we're making it through," Ruby heard Blake say from above before she dropped down from the roofs and dismissed her Nightingale armor. "Looks clear up ahead. No traps or anything. A few chaurus pens, but they're caged up decently."
"That's good," Ruby responded as they followed Weiss' last instructions. "What about the calf?"
"Also penned. Looks like a cage they threw together in a couple of minutes. I think she was lassoed, too."
"She's not too hurt, right?" Ruby asked, her voice dripping with concern. She was sure they could carry a baby mammoth if they absolutely had to. For obvious reasons, however, she didn't want to.
"Looked unharmed, from what I saw," Blake answered. "We'll know better once we get there."
Almost as if trying to get their attention, the little pachyderm let out another sad toot, which made Ruby frown sadly. The three quickly jogged past another intersection and out into a somewhat open area where several Falmer-made stations had been set up, along with a pen of small chaurus and the mammoth calf in its own little corner, tied to a post. As they approached, it took notice of them and tried to back away fearfully, even as some sharp points of its cage poked into its backside.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," Ruby soothed calmly to the calf, taking a pouch from her belt and opening it up before slowly reaching it out to where the creature could smell the substance. It was some mixture of dried haygrass and powdered mammoth milk made into a soft block that Yggarn had said was used as a treat for older calves. The horse-sized baby slowly calmed when the shorter beings did nothing to harm her, then slowly reached her trunk out and sniffed the snack before grabbing a little bit and bringing it to her mouth. The familiar food seemed to help ease the calf's nerves, allowing the human girl to close the distance and take a knife to the binds holding the pieces of the pen together. As the woody substance and chaurus chitin fell away, a spark of joy shone in the calf's eyes.
"Okay girl, let's get you out of here," Ruby told the mammoth as she untied the rope around her neck. She then pressed a finger to her earpiece and said, "Ready for extraction, Weiss. Land when you're ready."
"Roger that. Coming down."
As the three girls awaited their friend's arrival with Gauldur's Amulet, where they would teleport the calf to the temporary safety of the pocket realm, Blake's ears began to flicker as they picked up on something, causing her to turn and look at one of the connected streets in concern and grabbing the other two's attention.
"Footsteps," she warned them while drawing Gambol Shroud.
"Wait, guys," Weiss' voice came through. "There's a… Wait, that can't be right."
"What do you see?" Lydia asked through her own earpiece after arming herself.
"It's…a blonde."
"Yang here," their other overwatch called through. "Confirming sighting. Looks Nordic. She's heading right towards you guys."
"A Nord?" Blake wondered aloud. "Think she's another one from the expedition?"
Ruby made a half-shrug. "Could be. Unless she got here some other way. Huh, we're running into a lot more people down here than I expected." She shook her head. "Oh well. Let's try to not spook her. No telling what she's gone through."
"If she's been here for a while, I can't imagine she'd be in much better shape than the others," Lydia commented. "But it shouldn't be a problem. For us."
Blake's ears went up. "Wait, she wasn't around a minute ago, and it would have taken a while to get here from anywhere outside the area we searched. How…?" Her eyes went wide. "The only place she could have been is in the buildings or underground! She was already in the city!"
At first, Ruby thought that that was a bit much, but then recalled how others from the expedition had been getting loose. It wasn't too far-fetched of an idea that someone else might have gotten away from the blind demi-elves even in the center of their holdings, especially with their current behavior. Her thoughts turned from speculation to how to reassure the person they'd come across just as the Nord woman dressed in rags came around the bend and froze at the sight of them.
"Hey, don't worry! We're here to help," the young Dragonborn started. "I'm Ruby. This is Blake and Lydia. We're here to, uh, rescue this mammoth calf, but we can totally help you out, too."
The woman stayed silent and still for a long moment before taking a step back from the three of them. Ruby looked around, wondering what she could be afraid of, then heard her say something under her breath, the words completely unrecognizable.
"Uh, could you repeat that?"
"Ruby," Blake said in a warning tone as her body began tensing like a coil getting ready to spring into action. "That wasn't a human language."
"...What?"
The woman said something, louder this time, but Ruby still didn't understand what she was saying… It did, however, sound familiar. It was much the same as the words the Falmer used, with harsh guttural tones and tongue clicks made even more alien coming from the lips of a being that was certainly not a Falmer. Ruby was nearly dazed by the implications, and so was caught off-guard when the woman made a run for it.
"She's going to warn the others!" Lydia yelled, already running after her. Everything seemed to snap into place and Ruby tossed the rope towards her Faunus teammate.
"Weiss, down here double time!" she quickly called into her earpiece while dashing forward and then after the woman, speeding past Lydia as she did so. Blake had caught the rope just as she went out of sight, and, in a burst of petals, Ruby stopped in front of the woman who skidded to a halt with fearful eyes.
"Just hold on!" she tried, holding out her hands in a stopping gesture. "We're not going to hurt you!"
"Ker hahk it'hic!" the woman seemed to curse at Ruby, looking around for some means of escape. Just as the Huntress was wondering whether or not they were going to have to capture the woman or render her unconscious in some manner, the Nord ran over to a vent and screamed bloody murder into it, yelling some Falmeric words. Ruby dashed forward and punched her in the face, cutting her off and knocking her back onto the ground into unconsciousness, but the alarm was already rung.
"Ruby!" Blake called out as she pulled the mammoth along, having donned her Nightingale armor again to check their surroundings through its enchantments. "We've got movement everywhere! A whole lot of them are heading up!"
"Weiss, where-" Ruby called out, but was cut off when the vampire dropped down in front of them, her wings disappearing seconds later as she resumed her human form. "Thank God! Get the baby in the- Eep!"
Lydia had shoved Ruby aside, blocking an arrow with her shield as she did. Several Falmer archers had lined up on some wall and started shooting at the sound of surfacer voices. Others were pouring out of doors and dug-out tunnels, weapons at the ready. A few non-Falmer beings were with them, mostly Nords and elves, all paler than average. One Orc was among them, a chitinous yoke around his neck with attached rocks weighing him down. Unlike the others, he wasn't armed with a chaurus chitin weapon.
"...Never should have come here," he grunted out in a sad tone. A Falmer whacked him with the blunt side of his axe, receiving a grunt in response, but no damage was done.
"The amulet's going to bring me right back to wherever I 'port from," Weiss reminded them.
"Then hurry!" Ruby urged her, unfurling Crescent Rose to parry a few arrows. Weiss nodded and took hold of the calf before disappearing. That sent a wave of visible surprise throughout the non-Falmer, many of whom were saying something to the sightless beings. Ruby figured that they must have been relaying what they were seeing to the others, something that just compounded onto the knowledge that their normal means of combating Falmer weren't going to work as well here.
"Still," she muttered before concentrating her magicka into her right hand and releasing a whistling icicle into the air. The high-pitched projectile made the Falmer flinch and some of the others wince, but they weren't backing off. Luckily, though, the archers had stopped shooting.
"They're being cautious," Lydia noted.
"We've got more coming from the back," Blake warned them as she turned to look down the street toward the pen area. Several Falmer with shields came out and began lining up, a heavily armored one barking orders while a fairly pale elf more quietly relayed information to the commander. Falmer after Falmer lined up and pressed together, making a crude shield wall before slowly marching toward the three. "They're trying to box us in!"
"We'll have to bust through one way or the other."
"We still have to wait for Weiss," Ruby said, sweeping her gaze back and forth to keep an eye on both sides. In the corner of her eyes, she noted the limp form of the woman she'd cold-cocked, still splayed on the ground and spared a glance at her. "Uh, any chance they think we're holding a hostage?"
The other two looked down at the woman, having seemingly forgotten her as they were being surrounded. Blake looked between her and the shield wall slowly making its way toward them and shook her head.
"Okay, don't get mad."
"About wha-" Ruby's words choked out when she saw Blake heft up the woman and hold her sword up to her neck. Not too close, as there was no need to restrain the unconscious Nord, but it did get most of the non-Falmer worried as they said something to their blind fellows.
"Don't move!" Blake warned the Falmer. Ruby wasn't sure if they understood or if one of the ones that could had translated for them, but the shield wall halted. Ruby could have sworn that they were all snarling at them even more heavily than before, which meant that some value was placed on the woman's life, at least, although she wasn't sure how long that would last.
After a tense moment, Ruby felt the swirl of magic that announced Weiss' return. After the vampire popped back into their plane of existence, the tension in the Falmer rose, clearly not liking the unknown quantity of people teleporting in and out.
"...Calf's safe. What's the plan? Jump everyone in?"
"No, they might set up something for whoever comes back out," Ruby said. "We're going to make a run for it as soon as we find an opening."
"What kind of-" Weiss did a double take suddenly, looking at Blake and the unconscious hostage they had. "What happened?!"
"I'm not serious about it," Blake whispered to her. "We needed a minute and- Duck!"
Weiss looked over and extended her hand to stop an arrow flying at her, her Aura concentrated in a defensive manner. The twin-barbed arrow then went through the soul-based shield and sank into her palm, spattering a few drops of blood across Weiss' cheek as the points erupted out the other side of her hand. For a second, the Huntresses were all frozen in fear, then Weiss began clutching her shaking wrist as the pain started to really register.
"S-soul Trap!" she hissed out before snapping the shaft of the arrow, unwilling to pull out the wicked-looking barbs and further injure her hand. "One of their bows has the Soul Trap enchantment!"
Ruby gulped. Their escape had just become a lot more urgent. Even if it was just one bow out of the dozens pointed their way, one was all they needed to land a few debilitating hits or worse. Even if they spotted and took out that particular archer, it might only be a matter of time before someone else noticed the pattern and took it up to try their own hand at it or sent word to get more like it. She kept looking for a way out, but the Falmer had them well surrounded. They could try scaling the taller building to their backs, but they'd be open to arrow shots the whole way, and there was no telling what was in that direction if they got to the top.
Before Ruby could decide whether or not they should charge through, a howling roar resounded from behind the first line and then a blur of golden fur crashed through, massive balled-up fists backhanded several Falmer and their allies before punching two in their shields, sending them flying to hit the ground writhing.
"Let's go!" Yang growled out in her werewolf form. She roared at the collection of Falmer that she had scattered, and many panicked. The yoked Orc backed away fearfully, knees shaking. The women made a run for it, Ruby only pausing long enough to sweep her scythe through the Orc's bonds, which fell away in pieces as she sped on with her team.
As they ran, Weiss' form grew its bloody chrysalis before she burst forward in her Vampire Lord form, taking wing and dodging through a hail of arrows, using her warding magic rather than her glyphs to block a few that came close. A few explosive casts of blood magic scattered some Falmer and a telekinetic pull here or there helped to keep the rallying beings from blocking their paths completely, and Yang's charging bulk crashed through what resistance they had been able to pull up. Arrows were parried and blocked, and the rest bounced off the werewolf's armored plates and scale-mail. Then one sank into her shoulder and Yang fell over with a wolflike yelp.
"What the Hell?!" she growled out.
Suddenly, Falmer shot out from a building nearby and charged them, weapons at the ready. At the back of this column was a single Falmer riding on a harnessed troll of all things, controlling it with reins tied around its chest and shoulder. The Falmer poked and prodded before going all in, swinging with near-wild abandon at the Huntresses. Lydia took point, her orichalcum shield absorbing blows and cracking the weapons swung against it as her Semblance spread out from its sides. Yang started knocking a few Falmer back, then found herself grappling with the troll and its rider. Calls went up from where they had run, and the group saw the archers trying to get to a vantage point with a non-Falmer directing them.
"We gotta keep moving!" Ruby shouted as she jumped over the fray and used Crescent Rose's blunt side to knock aside some of the Falmer in their way. They set off again, though now a sort of barricade had been set up by a couple of Falmer and several of their non-Falmer allies, these, in particular, looking worse for wear and not quite as pale as most of the others. One Nord looked at them in shock, though no fear shone in his eyes.
"Oh, that's what's happening," he hoarsely muttered before dropping the chitin spiked barricade piece he had been dragging and running for cover. The others scattered as well while the three Falmer 'looked' around in confusion at what to do.
As the girls readied themselves to run through, a large rock suddenly smashed the barricades and scattered the demi-elves. Yggarn had arrived, hefting an armful of stones that had to have weighed at least fifty pounds each.
"Where's the calf?!" he shouted before hefting another stone at a collection of Falmer warriors, bowling through them and cracking more than a few bones.
"We put her safely in a pocket dimension," Weiss explained as she glided upwards, using her vantage point to cast a few illusion spells into the pursuing Falmer's ranks.
"A what? What is that?"
Ruby nearly hit her head against a wall. How did they explain something like a pocket realm in Oblivion to a Giant? It wasn't that Giants weren't intelligent enough to understand such a thing. They were just simpler people. It would probably be just as hard to explain to the average farmer. And neither was exactly possible when one is on the run from a small army of murderous mole mer.
"They shrank her and put her in a bottle," Yang helpfully fibbed for her. "We'll put her back to normal when we escape!"
The Giant grunted an affirmation and threw another rock. The Falmer managed to get out of the way, their sighted allies warning them as it came. In response, a volley of arrows arched out from one building top, all aimed at Yggarn. Ruby gasped and rushed to defend the Giant, leaping in the air and swiping away as many of the missiles as she could. A few made it through and sank into the Giant's skin, making him drop his ammunition and clutch the arm that was now halfway pin-cushioned. Ruby saw the Falmer archers running up to get closer, knocking arrows as they went. They were oddly fast and coordinated, perhaps thanks to the young Bosmer following along with a bow of her own.
One that was glowing with enchantment.
A few thoughts passed through Ruby's mind on how to stop them, but she went with the simplest and most effective that she could conjure at the moment.
"Fus!" she began, her Thu'um thrumming with building power in her lungs and throat as she held back the release of her Shout.
The archers stopped and began to take aim at them, especially at the Giant.
"Ro Dah!"
The wave of Unrelenting Force erupted from Ruby's mouth and crashed against the side of the roof near her, slamming back all of the archers by several feet. Some bones broke, but the foes she hit weren't critically injured. Simply put out of the fight. Her Shout carried on, however, and brushed the giant, glowing orb above the city, shifting it up and letting fall back down, ringing like a massive gong. The sound was so loud that even the surface beings were negatively affected. It was far worse for the Falmer, who all writhed in pain as they clutched their sensitive ears and cried out.
"Gah!" Blake shouted as she stumbled forward. Looking around, Ruby saw that the noise had almost completely disabled many of the Falmer, although several were struggling to get back on their feet. Yang, meanwhile, was shaking her head as she returned to human form.
"Cover Blake's ears," Ruby directed her sister, who gave a thumbs up and did so. "Weiss, Whistling Icicles!"
"Oh, I already hate where this is going," the vampire groaned as she summoned up a glyph, infusing it with ice magic in order to rapidly summon the specially shaped ice spikes. As they started flying and shattering against stone and Dwemer metals, increasing the cacophony, the Falmer fought to steady themselves against it. More and more tried muscling their way through it, giving up on blocking the sounds and instead going back on the offensive, neglecting their pained eardrums. Ruby looked up at the orb suspended above the Silent City and took a deep breath.
"Fus Ro Dah!" she Shouted once again, this time aiming directly at the ancient orb. It was hit with the force of the Thu'um once again and went up. For a second, Ruby was afraid she had overdone it and that the orb was going to break loose and come crashing down on everyone. Luckily, its anchors held as it fell back down, ringing out even louder than the last time. Ruby ground her teeth at the sound of the massive impromptu bell but immediately went back to the task at hand.
"Run for it!" she yelled to her teammates and the Giant. Despite their own daze, they all got on their feet and made for the exit. Every Falmer was too shocked with audial pain to even try to stop them, and their less-affected allies were too busy trying to help them if they could at all.
As the six surfacers ran out from the walls and began leaving the Silent City behind them, they started to feel the relief of having escaped, only for the feeling to be cut short by the echoing roar coming down from far above them. Screams rang out from the Silent City while winds beat down upon the strange underground grass growing under the orb's light.
"What…was that?" Yang asked as she looked up.
"The Falmer are retreating back underground," Blake informed the others. "They're…afraid of something."
Ruby blinked a few times before looking back up, the wind still beating down in bursts that followed a pattern that felt so familiar to her soul.
"No way," she breathed out. "Down here?!"
"What?" Yang asked her. "What is-"
Another roar interrupted her as a dragon came down from above the orb, its underside black as night and its back a mix of flame red and orange dotted with black spikes and splotches. It landed upon the orb for a moment before leaping off and gliding toward a massive cave column, catching onto it and crawling down like a lizard before jumping off and gliding again, fire launching from its mouth toward the walls of the Silent City.
The young women were shocked at the presence of a dragon so far beneath the ground, unsure of how he had even gotten here when the only paths they knew of were either complex underground bases or fairly narrow elevators. Their incredulity only lasted so long, however, as they saw him turning his gaze upon them, rage radiating from his eyes.
"Yggarn, run!" Ruby yelled at the Giant. The large humanoid looked down at her in concern, but as the dragon came closer, he ran while clutching his injured arm.
The dragon roared as it came close, fire spilling out from its mouth and spreading across the ground, forcing Team RWBYL to dodge in every direction to avoid the wild conflagration. As Ruby cleared the flames, she looked back at the Aedric creature in confusion.
"Dovah, fun Zu'u wo hi los. Grind Zu'u zin!" she called out to him, but the dragon did not respond. Rather, it dropped down to the ground, sliding to a stop as it spun back around to face them, roaring.
"What'd he say?" Yang asked as she prepared her shot-gauntlets for battle.
"Nothing, which is weird," Ruby answered. "He didn't even Shout his fire breath."
"Can dragons even do that?" Weiss wondered aloud, putting out the flames nearest her with ice magic.
Their contemplations were cut short as the beast charged them. Ruby ran to meet him and jumped up, smacking his head down and vaulting over him. While the dragon tried to stop and turn, Yang leaped up and punched his jaw, using her spin to then kick him while firing from one of her gauntlets, the recoil empowering her already powerful blow. The red and black dragon stumbled about, letting out ragged breaths and snapping his jaws mindlessly.
"What's with this guy?" Yang asked her sister.
"I don't know. He's acting weird."
"Weird how?" Blake asked as she aimed her bow at the recovering dragon.
"They usually start by telling me their name and stuff, then try to argue about something," the Dragonborn explained. "Or taunt me. Especially once they realize who I am. Hey, Zu'u Dovahkiin, by the way," she aimed at the twitching dragon.
The reptile's response appeared to be a hiss and then slamming its head into the ground before throwing out its wings and blowing dust into the area. It rolled over and then leaped into the air, roaring and letting out a breath of fire before hitting a column and gripping it with its wings and talons.
"My thane," Lydia spoke up after a moment, "I think this dragon has lost its mind."
"I don't… No, I knew they could, but I figured Numinex was a special case."
"The…dragon that was imprisoned in Whiterun centuries ago?" Weiss asked.
"Paarthurnax told me about him. Said he visited a few times, but the immobility and stretches of isolation made him go crazy." Ruby looked back up at the raging dragon as he released another bout of flame. "Yeah, I can feel his Thu'um and…it's all over the place. I think he's been down here for…a long, long time."
"The Falmer seemed to know what it was when they heard him roar," Lydia pointed out. "Your Shout may have drawn him out this time, but it's obviously not the first time he's rampaged down here."
"So do we-" Yang started, only to stop when they saw the dragon gliding back down toward them. "Crap! Here he comes!"
Once again, the five young women had to move out of the path of the dragon's fiery breath. He managed to bank up rather than hit the ground this time, and began to turn around, talons scraping a mess of stalactites at the height of his diagonal parabola. As he flew above them, he twisted and let out flames in a tight spiral for several seconds. Gunshots rang out as Ruby and Blake fired up at him in their runs, and a few black scales shattered and blood flew out. The dragon roared and spun out of control, heading back toward the ground. As he crashed, the earth shook, and the girls regathered themselves, ready for another charge. Rather than attack, however, the dragon thrashed about madly, scratching at the stone and dirt beneath him and snapping at the air.
"He's…actually insane," Weiss remarked, watching the scene play out before them. "I mean, he's definitely been attacking us, but it seems to just be a part of his…berserk state."
"Should we… I don't know how else to say this, but should we just put him down?" Yang asked the others.
Ruby grimaced deeply at that and focused in on the dragon. He had stopped thrashing and gotten onto his feet and wings, his head swung around, looking at his surroundings. His gaze landed upon Ruby for a moment, and she felt the snap of cold, lonely grief within the dragon. Flutterings of anger, sadness, and indignance rose within parts of Ruby's soul. Pieces of her cried out at the unjust imprisonment of one of their siblings, and the forced isolation he must have endured.
She started walking forward, Crescent Rose folding up and going back to her belt.
"Uh, Ruby?" Yang called out as the group saw her moving.
"Stay there, guys," she called back to them.
"What are you-?" Blake started to ask.
"Just wait," she reiterated, louder this time.
As she approached, the dragon's eyes focused on her and his back arched as a growl rumbled out from his throat.
"[Do not be afraid,]" she calmly spoke in Dovahzuul. "[It'll be all right.]"
Fire launched out of the dragon's mouth with a roar. Ruby took a deep breath and met it with her own.
"Yol Toor Shul!"
The dragon huffed several breaths as it twitched its eyes back and forth, looking at the fire that had spouted up from where his flames and Ruby's had intermingled, then back at the girl in question.
"[You have been alone for a long time. It is okay now. You are not alone anymore.]"
A look of contemplation softened his face a moment before he spewed out another bout of flame.
"Fo Krah Diin!"
This time fire and frost met and became steam and vapor in a violent fit. The dragon looked around at the billows of steam curling up around him, the coiled tension in his back loosening somewhat.
"[Just listen. Hear my Voice. Remember yours.]"
The dragon took in a deep breath, but no flames leaped out. Instead, it was a low rumble, like he wanted to say something but could only manage a groan.
"Kaan!"
A hint of recognition.
"Drem!"
A loosening of tension and raising of the head.
"Ov!"
The Shout washed over the dragon, and he closed his eyes as its power ran over and through him. Ruby felt the scattered Thuum of the being before her calm and come together. It was still shaken, but no longer completely and chaotically fraught, re-coalescing from its scattered state. He opened his eyes, and rather than empty orbs full of madness, Ruby saw the light of intelligence returned to them.
"Dovahkiin," the dragon's voice croaked out, looking for all the world like the most exhausted reptile in the world. "Zu'u…Vulthuryol."
The now-identified Vulthuryol straightened himself and looked down at the girl before him, seeing the mortal body and sensing the dragon soul.
"Drem Yol Lok," he greeted her, receiving a smile from the Dragonborn.
"Drem Yol Lok."
"All right, after the gears stop and the elevator resets, we'll count to thirty then pull the lever to bring it back down," Ruby explained to Yggarn as he petted the mammoth calf at his side.
"Thank you for everything," the Giant responded. "Should you ever need anything from the Yellow Hill Clan, I will make sure that you receive it."
"And thank you, Yggarn. Keep an eye on that girl, will ya?"
Ruby patted the mammoth and received one in kind atop her head from her trunk, making the young Huntress giggle before she left the elevator's platform and pulled the lever to send it up. Safety grates came up and the device's gears and pulleys started clunking as the two were sent back up towards the surface.
"Well, that's going to take a minute," Yang stated as they watched the platform slowly disappear into the elevator tower, Ruby watching it go the entire way. She then turned to see Vulthuryol watching the tiny Briiviing hop around some rocks right in front of him and sometimes up on his snout and crest. Occasionally, she let out little puffs of draconic elemental breath, not as attacks, but more akin to barking or meowing that had a chance of scorching or freezing surrounding flora.
After a few moments of watching, she awkwardly coughed into her fist then walked over, asking, "So, uh, how you feelin' there, big guy?"
"I feel…embarrassed," the dragon admitted, something Yang never imagined a dragon would say. "And, simultaneously, relieved. Gein Dovah! I was alone for so long; I had forgotten nearly all one should know. After digging upward and reaching nothing, knowing how far the surface was, I fell into grief and lost myself. Dii hahdrim lost mal. I was more beast than Dovah when I heard the ringing of the bell and the echoes of Dovahkiin's Thu'um. Her Shout brought me back from the depths of mindlessness. Haalvut drem. With peace in mind once again, I could think. How much I missed hearing the Voices of others, I could not even realize. The only respite within."
Yang nodded at his words, only able to imagine where the dragon was coming from. For all intents and purposes, Vulthuryol was stuck in what amounted to solitary confinement for who knows how long. Ever since the Dwemer disappeared at least, and that was thousands of years ago. Putting people into solitary confinement for too long could have drastic consequences to their mental health, with it only getting worse as time went on. She wasn't surprised that dragons could be just as affected, especially for one who spent so long trapped and locked away. Frankly, it was a miracle Ruby was even able to bring him back to his senses in the first place. If she hadn't, they might've been forced to put him down, and that would've been a tragedy in and of itself with how few friendly dragons they could count on, growing number or not.
"I'm glad you came to your senses," Ruby told him as she went over and scratched at Briiviing's head. "I…really don't like having to kill dragons if I don't have to."
Vulthuryol chortled at that.
"Let not one of the Bron hear such sentiment. They will believe you have gained a sickness of mind."
A quiet settled over the group, merely listening to the clinking and clanking of metal for a moment.
"I figure we need to bring this up sooner rather than later," Blake suddenly spoke up, standing up from the abandoned block of cut stone she had been sitting on. "Those people, back in the Silent City…"
"Yeah," Ruby muttered as the dark facts returned to her mind. "The slaves."
"We don't know…" Weiss began, only to stop mid-sentence as she reconsidered her words, then sighed. "A lot of those people were definitely slaves, but…some of them were fighting just as hard as the Falmer to get at us. I can't imagine a slave willingly doing that."
"Being a slave doesn't mean they won't fight for their masters, Weiss," the Faunus explained. "Slavery is…not simple. Someone who knows what they're doing can make another person internalize their own dehumanization to the point that they make their own chains and cages in their mind. Make them truly believe that their only purpose in life is to dedicate their lives and bodies to their masters in their entirety. And then there was that woman." Blake paused for a bit while she mulled over the information she had. "Ruby, Lydia, you said she didn't say anything you recognized?"
"Not even when she was yelling something at us," Ruby confirmed.
"Not a word of Nordic, Cyrodiilic, or Imperial Common," Lydia added. "It sounded exactly like that foul tongue the Falmer speak in."
"Languages aren't foul," Weiss harshly interjected, clearing her throat a second after hearing the unintentional venom she put behind those words. "Sorry, but…language is language. It's a utility of communication, nothing more and nothing less. The only possible exception I can think of would be Dovahzul, and that's only if a dragon speaks it. But, in any case, if that woman didn't know a word of any surface language, then that likely means she never learned in the first place."
"They would have had to grab her really young if that was the case," Yang figured, tapping her finger against her chin in thought.
"Or she was born here," Blake suggested, making the others freeze at the implication. "We don't know how long they've been at this. It could be that whole generations have been born down here and raised as slaves, supplemented with new captures like the expedition members. Born and raised to be loyal servants of the Falmer."
"...Brothers above," Yang cursed as everything settled into place, making her grimace and clench her fists tightly in anger.
"This is so messed up," Ruby muttered as well, while Weiss remained silent.
"Have mortals above eschewed slavery again?" Vulthuryol asked in curiosity, tilting his head as he stared at Ruby.
"It's illegal in most parts of the world," Ruby answered, then did a double-take and met Vulthuryol's eyes. "Wait, again?"
"It comes and goes," the dragon responded, twirling a wing in emphasis. "The Bron held slaves of one another, then stopped after migrating south. Then they took slaves of the Odfahliil they captured in the war. Used them to build many of their monuments and cities."
"Yes, I saw some memories of an Altmer vampire that experienced that," Weiss confirmed. "Even long after the Dragon War, they were still attacking Snow Elf settlements and enslaving their people."
"Then these Fahliil are now doing the same to those above." A grumbling laugh came out from the dragon's throat, making Blake's face twist in anger.
"You think it's funny?!" Blake shouted, but the dragon merely chuckled while shaking his head.
"It is ironic, is it not? Zaam meyz thur. Even after losing their eyes, the Odfahliil have managed to strike back. Once above, now below." The mechanical clicking stopped, and the dragon looked up. "Ah, my turn comes."
"Ironic or not, we need to do something about this," Ruby said as she started counting down, making sure not to go too fast with it.
"What can we do?" Lydia asked. "The place is crawling with Falmer, and more than a few of those slaves are just as willing to fight to the death. Unless we're willing to kill everyone who tries to stop us, there's not much that we can do."
Yang clicked her tongue in anger, then reluctantly admitted, "I hate to agree with that, but…Lydia's probably right. I mean, we could probably pull a stealthy extraction on a few people using the Refuge, but it'd be slow and risky. You'd have to have a spotter to keep an eye on the teleportation spot, 'cuz blindly jumping back in means we might pop back up right in front of someone coming to check on their human resources."
"And the spotter would be left on their own in hostile territory," Blake pointed out. "Trying to get people out the traditional way would be even worse."
"We can't just leave all those people there," the young Dragonborn tried to argue.
"Ruby, I don't think we have much of a choice. We weren't exactly prepared for this, it's just not feasible for us to solve something on this scale by ourselves," Weiss told her, saddened by the conclusion she had to come to. "We're also…pressed for time as it is."
The young Dragonborn looked like she wanted to press further, but was interrupted when Vulthuryol groaned in agreement.
"Ge, Dovahkiin Ruby. Unless you are willing to spill much elf blood on these stones, you will not be freeing their slaves in a…timely manner." He looked over at the lever, and Ruby realized more than their original planned half-minute had gone by, and so she pulled it. "Perhaps instead, this is a tinvaak you will have to set aside and return to?"
"I…" She sighed. "I guess so, but…it feels so wrong."
"The right action can feel wrong at times," the dragon continued. "It felt wrong to offer my services and teachings to the Denekfahliil, but doing so earned me many secrets to power that I may now find use for, and mayhaps saved my life when mortals went high and low to exterminate all Dov."
"And you went mad because of it."
"And you brought me back." The dragon stood up from his resting position and shook himself, causing Briiviing to chirp and leap off of his back. "You are an interesting Dovahkiin, Ruby Rose. I look forward to seeing what the world looks like where you have grown."
"Yeah, about that…" Ruby started.
"We're not exactly from around here," Yang finished up for her. "Except Lydia. She's local."
"A little later, then. Time is…something I have."
A moment later, Vulthuryol was cramming himself into the elevator, moving backwards and bending himself as far as he could, even gripping his tail with his mouth to get it all inside. It was a tight fit, but not an impossible one. With another goodbye, they sent the dragon up to a surface world he hadn't seen in millennia.
"So, back on track," Ruby declared once the platform could no longer be seen while turning towards the team, Briiviing perching on her shoulders and resting her head atop the Dragonborn's. "We've got to find the Tower Misark."
"Mzark," Weiss corrected her.
"Dwemer words are dumb," Ruby retorted. "But yeah, we gotta find it. We're sure it's not in the Silent City, right?"
"No signs indicated it," Weiss said, taking out her papers again. "And there were signs for other towers. I'm starting to think Alftand is further from Mzark than we initially supposed."
"They should search along the cavern walls, where most towers reside," a buzzing voice suggested.
"Right. If we assume this place is a large complex…" Weiss ceased sharing her thoughts as she registered that the suggestion had come from an unfamiliar source and turned towards where she had heard it, her hand instinctively reaching towards Strahlendjuwel.
Everyone else looked as well to see a large, dark silhouette perched atop a nearby stone, the extent of its form suggesting a large span of wings. The only feature most of them could make out beyond its shape were two large disks of red where eyes should be, and two featherlike extensions above them that waved in the mild breeze.
"Who… What…" Weiss started and stopped at the sight of the creature.
"Where'd you come from?" Ruby quickly asked after gathering herself. While the thing had snuck up on them, it had also announced itself rather than attacking them. That didn't mean it automatically had good intentions, but it did giev credence to the thing not wanting a fight.
"Its name is unpronounceable in the mouths of man," the thing answered.
Intrigued, Blake stepped forward and called up a Candlelight spell, holding it closer to the creature so that she and everyone could get a better look at it. It was a mottled dark gray and covered in fur, with a curled red proboscis in place of a mouth. It looked at the light and held up its four hands toward it.
"Ah, such beauty!" the unknown creature said as it leaned its head closer to the spell, like a moth drawn to a flame.
"Are you…some kind of moth-man?" Yang asked as she came closer to the creature. "Man-moth?"
"It is much like one, as were its kind," it said as its fingers brushed the magical construct of light. Blake felt a little odd about the actions of the large bug person but decided to leave it be as it seemed harmless enough. The mothman then turned towards Ruby, seeming to fight to bring its attention away from the light. "It has a request from them, if they will hear it."
"Uh, sure, they will. Er, I will?" Ruby answered, not quite certain how the mothman's manner of speaking worked.
"It will offer its assistance in exchange." Blake let the Candlelight go, and the mothman stood up before jumping down from the rock. It was rather short, but its wingspan and insectile abdomen added to its overall mass, so it was maybe larger than any of them present. "It has been an eternal servant of the Lady of Light, and it could feel Her radiance emanating from them. Are they bearers of one of Her artifacts?"
"Uh, yeah." Ruby reached down and grabbed the hilt of Dawnbreaker, thumbing the pommel. "Right here."
"What do you want with that?" Weiss asked, feeling as though something was off about the mothman that she couldn't quite place. The insect turned its face to her, its eyes looking angry, but then quickly shifting to sadness.
"Ah, but this one holds the curse, too." Weiss blinked rapidly at that and tried to find a response, but the mothman continued, "It supposes then that a cure is not widespread. Just as well, it searches for the artifact that was once held by the Dwemer, said to hold the power to fill a being with the Lady's light, purifying it of all impurities."
"Uh, Dawnbreaker doesn't do that," Ruby explained. "At least, I don't think it does. It certainly does something to undead with some magic light, but… Wait, did you just say you're a vampire?"
"I was just catching onto that, as well," Lydia added, now tense and ready to come between her thane and the undead bug.
"It is, and it wishes to not be. But moreso, it wishes to enter the Colored Rooms and rejoin its kind, and so it searches for the artifact said to be locked away in the depths of Dwemeri ruins, that it might lead it to lustration."
"Uh, sorry, moth guy," Yang apologized. "But we're kinda on a treasure hunt of our own."
"It does not ask that they find this artifact for it, as it believes it may not be in this location any longer. Rather, it requests that the wielder of Her blade lend it the power, so that it may receive guidance from Her."
Ruby looked to the side at Lydia, then to the sheathed blade of Dawnbreaker. Her hand wrapped around the hilt, and she looked back to the mothman.
"Uh, are you sure about this?" she asked as she drew the sword, its light now cast upon their once-darkened surroundings. "If you're…a vampire…"
"It accepts that its corruption is an offense to the Lady of Light," the mothman admitted as it kneeled before Ruby, "but at this juncture, Her words may be the only chance it has at finding redemption." It spread its four arms out. "Please, grant it this one request."
Weiss slowly backed away as Ruby grimaced, her front teeth grinding together a bit as she approached the insectile being, slowly bringing the pommel to the being's head. As the weapon's blunt end pressed against its forehead, a sizzling noise sounded out and a spark of light flashed from the point of contact. Ruby yelped and pulled the sword back, but the apparent damage had been done. The mothman's fur had been scorched in a pattern resembling a four-pointed star with four rays outstretching from it between each spoke.
"Ah, so it sees." The mothman stood back on its feet. "It will guide them where they need to be. She has revealed that its goal lies far outside these caves."
"Oh, well, that's good," Ruby said as she sheathed her blade. For half a moment, she was afraid Meridia might have zapped the poor bug to death, but it seemed even a Daedra like her had some mercy for those truly searching for a better path. "Weiss, you got the thing?"
"Ah, of course." Weiss pulled her satchel around and began looking for the file holding her research sketches.
Blake's ears started twitching as the heiress dug out her files. She looked back behind them, towards the Silent City, but what she was picking up felt a lot closer.
"Guys," the Faunus whispered to her teammates, "don't be alarmed, but I think I hear Falmer close by."
They all paused at that, though the mothman moved first.
"Should it get rid of them?"
"No, no," Ruby quickly replied, keeping her voice down. "We want as little bloodshed as possible. We'll just hide or try to get-"
A Falmer with a shaggy mane of hair then walked around a boulder a short distance away, careful footsteps carrying him forward with grace one would not expect of such a being.
"Oh, that's close," Ruby whispered in surprise.
"Right, so be quiet," Yang reminded everyone. "Can't see a thing. If we're lucky, he won't even come this-"
The Falmer's face turned towards them and then a hand came up and slowly lifted up the front of his hanging hair. While the three normal humans had a harder time making it out, they still caught the slight glint of blue where Weiss and Blake clearly saw his crystal-like irises.
"...Oh."
Everyone braced themselves as the sighted Falmer scoped them out. The being then let his hair drop back down, raised a hand and flicked it in a series of gestures. For a moment, the group was confused at what he might have been trying to convey, then Blake's ears turned to where he'd stepped out from.
"There's mo- No, the steps. Too heavy. Five…seven people."
"Seven?" Ruby asked.
"Hard to pinpoint, but about…"
Blake stopped just as the first appeared, a young Nordic-looking man. More followed in his steps, including the Orc Ruby had sliced the yoke from, and a small child being carried by a Cyrod woman. They all saw the team of Huntresses and slowly approached, seemingly urged forward by the Falmer that had apparently led them there.
"Told you all we'd see you off to safety," an elderly looking Altmer man with extremely pale skin said. "Never had that many guards distracted before, but by my eye were they distracted today." His gaze looked over the Huntresses, who at this point had so many questions that they were stunned. "We have you to thank for that, if Arwog is right."
"I am," the Orc barked out, gesturing toward Ruby. "That one sliced my binds like warm butter."
"Wait, you all escaped?" Ruby asked, looking at the small group. "Are you…all that escaped?"
"No, not at all," the Altmer answered. "Though, I fear, the others may not be so lucky as this group. We need one of the orbs to use the elevators to get up or escape through the ruined entrance towns. We only have two in our group, and we need to be careful with them. Once we go around and regroup with them, we can try and get them out, but it's never a sure thing."
"But you got down here," Arwog pointed out. "So you got a way out, right?"
"We do, but it's gonna take a little while to use." Ruby then looked over to Weiss, who held a hesitant expression for a moment before nodding. "We have a safe place for everyone until then, at least. Just…you're all going to have to be okay with some weird things."
"The werewolf and werebat, right?" a Dunmer woman asked. "Look, I'm sure we can all agree that a few days around a were-creature or two is worth getting out of this pit," she directed towards her fellow refugees, all of whom agreed with varying degrees of hesitance.
"Uh, okay, glad that's all clear then."
"Ah," the Altmer sighed. "Glad to hear that. I was afraid you'd be in too much a rush getting whatever you're after. I reckon it'd be too much to ask you to wait for the rest."
"We-well," Ruby began, her mind trying to work out a vague timetable they could work with.
"No, don't worry. We've done this before," he said while waving his hand as if to dissapate her anxiousness over the matter. "Like I said, Xerc and I will go get the others together and figure out their escape from there. If you manage whatever you're here for before then, I'm sure you can sniff us out." The Falmer had walked up to his side at this point, looking at him before the mer reached over and patted his shoulder. "Get a whiff of us if you want, but we've got to get going soon. Every moment counts in escapes like these."
"His name's Xerc?" Ruby asked as Yang hesitantly took a few steps forward to get a better smell. "Wait… Did… Did you help Valie to escape?"
Xerc tilted his head at that. Ruby started to think it might have been silly to ask the Falmer directly, but then he answered.
"Who?"
"Oh! Uh, Altmer lady. Part of an expedition a few days ago."
"Yellow ones, like your pa," the Altmer explained further with a chuckle.
Xerc let out a throaty noise that sounded like recognition. "Yes. Fooled fellows. Thought her dead. Let them think. Rep-u-tation and…safe."
"Good boy, Xerc," the Altmer said while clasping his shoulder more firmly. "You do me proud. Wish you'd told me 'bout that one."
"Not bragging," the Falmer waved at the praise.
"How'd you teach him how to talk?" Yang asked in curiosity.
"Like you'd teach any babe. Didn't have as much time with him as his mother, and not many people speak other languages of the surface here, but he's got a good grasp of Common. Anyway, we've kept you enough. C'mon, son."
The two left the Huntresses and mothman with the collection of refugees to figure out their situation, most of them still filled with questions. One, however, got caught in Weiss' brain and fully stopped her calculations on how to get everyone safely into their pocket dimension in an efficient manner, and made her regret not joining the conversation earlier, even if they had been in a hurry.
"Did that mer call him 'son'?"
Blake was at rest, looking over the notebook she had just filled not that long ago. The mothman, whose race she decided to dub the 'Luminoth' after some aliens from a video game she recalled Jaune showing off, had allowed her to use her enchanted writing implements to jot down as much of its people's story as he could.
To put it short, it was an endling. The last of its kind. The Luminoth once lived in another world constructed by three beings; the Leaper King, the Greedy Man, and the Lady of Light. These beings had all undergone a metamorphosis that put them at odds, leading to the destruction of their world and its evacuation, as well as changing them into their current forms: Mehrunes Dagon, Molag Bal, and Meridia. It was more than a little hard to believe, but if the Endling was telling the truth, then this world existed outside of Mundus' 'Kalpic Cycle', much like Remnant. And by the physics of this world, her home was far more unbelievable in its structure.
What was really horrifying was why it all came down. First, something happened to the Greedy Man. The Endling didn't know how, but the Daedra's metaphorical carapace had been torn away, and his love for the Lady had become corrupted. In her defense, the Lady called upon the Leaper King, but he too had been changed into Dagon. Still, he fought Molag Bal, to the point their most loyal servant races, the Dreugh and the Bro-kah, went to all-out war across the lands and oceans, both being amphibious creatures.
Molag Bal had gained an advantage at some point and tried to claim his prize. Rather than let him have her in totality, the Lady turned Dagon into the Razor and sliced away the part of her Molag had a hold on, simultaneously severing her from her world and beginning its collapse. However, the Dreugh and Bro-kah were able to leap to another world, Nirn, thanks to the Leaper King's teachings, even if they had changed to match their patrons in the apocalyptic chaos. The Endling had also leaped, seeing the end of its world coming. It had thought the rest of its kind would have made the journey as well, but after centuries of searching, it never found any sign of them.
"What'cha looking at there?" Blake heard Yang ask as the blonde clodded into the library, quickly taking a seat and huffing as she did.
"Looking over what the Endling told us about its world."
"The…Endling?"
"Oh, uh, right." Blake had been privately calling it that, but it hadn't been said out loud, yet. "The mothman. An endling is…the last of one's kind. The last member of a species or race to live before they go extinct."
Yang hissed in a breath at that. "Yeah, that's heavy."
Blake hummed and nodded.
"Weiss is still yelling at the buttons, by the way," Yang abruptly added, causing Blake to raise an eyebrow.
"By the Brothers and the Bride and the Daedra…loving…stars, what is this stupid pattern!?" Weiss screamed while rapidly pushing one of the Dwemeri device's buttons. Ruby, for her part, was just keeping herself occupied by poking at the floating lexicon.
"Don't worry, bestie, you'll get it," she mildly cheered her on, dragonling climbing her cape.
"Damn right, I will!"
"Ah, she'll figure it out, eventually," Blake concluded.
"So, what happened to the moth guy's species?" Yang asked her.
"Well, it's kinda complicated and mostly conjecture," Blake started, flipping over a few pages. "They were a hive species, and almost directly connected to Meridia or whatever she was before. The Endling wasn't even supposed to live very long for even them. It was a drone, meant to fly off and find a queen to impregnate before dying and being eaten by her, starting a new colony. It got infected during their whole apocalypse, so it was severed from the connection most others had."
"Uh, why're you calling him an 'it'?"
"It called itself it."
"Oh yeah. Nevermind. So, he- it thought the others must have got dragged with Meridia?"
"That seems likely. They're giant bug people with eusocial hive hierarchies. More like bees than moths, really. If any made it over, people would have noticed. Especially since it's been here since the Dawn Era. It's likely the same ability the Dreugh and Bro-kah have to jump across worlds was lost to them at the time, or they were too embroiled in the chaos to effectively use it."
"Sorry, Bro-kah?" Yang asked with confused intrigue.
"Four-armed frog people," Blake answered while pointing over to a wall. "Fourth shelf, left side, Discoveries of Yneslea. Glossary can point you right at them."
Yang quickly fished out the book and then thumbed through it to the page she was pointed to. "Huh, they look like something that'd have 'bro' in the na- Holy! They rip off their bone spikes to use as weapons?!"
"They grow back, but yeah."
"'They hate the very notion of civilization and stable hierarchy, seeking to destroy it all and force all mortals to live by their barbarous code, one in which the biggest and strongest will always lead unless felled by one bigger, stronger, and/or more clever.' Well, not painting a very flattering picture there."
"There's probably a lot of nuance lost to distance and bias," Blake figured. "For all we know, they're probably just like the Dreugh and have an aggressive phase during their breeding cycle. What's got me more intrigued is the world they're all apparently from. The Endling said it existed outside the Kalpic Cycle."
"Uh, isn't that the whole metaphysical circle this whole universe is in?" Yang asked, not quite recalling the term at the moment.
"No. It's the…repeated cycle of time within the Mundus, more or less. One begins while another ends, but not in a real sequential order."
"Not in a… Right, time is a dragon, and he gets headaches." Yang huffed at that. "So, the moth's world wasn't one of them?"
"It said it was created by past forms of Meridia, Molag Bal, and Mehrunes Dagon. I looked into it, and, despite being diametrically opposed to each other, there are a surprising number of myths where they work together toward some shared goal, like the Khajiit tale of them being the first to attack the Lunar Lattice. A lot of these myths call that world 'Lyg,' and some believe it may have been turned into Coldharbour."
"Huh, didn't know that. Wait, you think this has something to do with Remnant?" Yang asked, to which Blake shrugged.
"There doesn't seem to be much connection, aside from being separate from Mundus. All we really have is the riddle from Azura and the glimpses Clan Box 2 gave Ruby." Blake moved over a sheet of paper that had the artist interpretation she'd managed to make with Ruby's descriptions. "It's as close as we've gotten to confirmation of Remnant having gods."
"Score one for the Brother religions," Yang noted. "Kinda makes the 'beyond the mightiest dragon' thing fall on its face, though."
"Pretty sure Azura was specifically pointing to Akatosh with that, but she's also not completely flawless. She just knows something is out there and a handful of people have come back and forth. The serpent, however…" Blake mused while looking at the Animese-style form of the Brother of Light. "No, I'm pretty sure it was either a reference to Lorkhan or the Serpent Sign itself. The Brothers seem to map more closely to the ideas of Anu and Padomay than anything. Doesn't necessarily mean the Groom and Bride or the Beastly Kings are mutually exclusive to them either, given the layers that exist here."
"And none of them really fit any Daedra, either," Yang pointed out. "Well, maybe a bit with Dagon and the Bride. Heh, maybe we should ask him if he's ever been married?"
"If we ever end up face to face with Mehrunes Dagon, that might just distract him long enough to not instantly vaporize us." Blake shook her head. "Anyway, while there are similarities, there're way more differences between this place and Remnant. Won't really get anywhere looking down that path."
"Still neat. And hey, makes our claim about being from another world sound less crazy." Yang smiled brightly, and Blake couldn't help but smile back.
The Faunus had a small thought then and set her books aside before stepping over to where Yang was leafing through Discoveries of Yneslea. She leaned in as though to get a better look, but was honestly not paying as much mind to the entry on the Kitapoe as she was on slowly putting her arm around Yang and resting her hand on the blonde's waist.
"So, while we're waiting, you wanna get a b-"
Their scrolls rang at that moment, cutting off her question and pulling her from her position. A click later, Ruby's voice was coming through.
"Hey guys! Weiss figured it out!"
"I wish the Dwemer were still here so I could give them a piece of my mind!"
A chuckle from Lydia came through. "She did not appreciate the actual solution."
"So anyways, magic goober cube has Septimus' stuff, and we've got the Elder Scroll. It's got dragons on it, so it
has to be the right one."
"Cool, we'll be right out," Yang told her sister. "See y'all in a second." She clicked out of the call and pocketed her scroll before looking back at Blake. "What were you trying to say?"
"Uh, nothing. Turns out we don't have time," Blake told her with a blush.
"Yeah, gotta bring 'em the amulet and head up to the surface. Maybe help those guys on the way out."
Yang nodded and started to head back to the main room, Blake trailing after her, but then stopped and looked back to her.
"Hey, after this, once we get to a town, let's go out somewhere," she suggested with a wink. Blake's blush deepened, and she laughed. "Yeah, I'm not totally oblivious. C'mon. Sooner we're there, the sooner we're out of this giant cave country."
"So, the other two have sun symbols and blood symbols on them, and this one has dragons," Ruby noted, pointing at the picture of their newly acquired Elder Scroll, now safely stored within Gaulder's Refuge inside of a small vault and behind locked doors. Not a feature they'd expected to need in their dimensionally hidden base, but that was before they discovered how convenient the amulet was for housing rescued strangers. Not that they expected their recently emancipated guests to try to steal from them, but better to be safe and take the time to secure their most exotic stuff, to avoid any temptations to be nosy. "So…the Sun Scroll, the Blood Scroll, and the Dragon Scroll."
"Reckon so," Yang figured with a shrug. "What do you suppose is the difference between them?"
"Not really sure. Maybe they're all about specific subjects?" Ruby hummed in thought as she cupped her chin. "Dragon is pretty self-explanatory, especially since I'm sure that's the one I need for the Time-Wound. Blood might be all about vampires, but they're not the only blood-related thing out there. The Sun is… Oh yeah, the whole sun-blotting thing!"
Weiss blinked as she looked over to her partner, the clinking of Dwemeri gears the only sound for a few seconds. "Ruby, did you forget why we were doing this?"
"No, no, I remembered it was to keep evil vampires from doing stuff, just…I keep forgetting the whole thing about the sun. Like, I know you, Serana, and Gilly find it annoying, but it doesn't seem like such a big deal to me that you'd need to block it for the rest of ever."
"That's true, but you can't underestimate the strength boost night can give some vampires," the heiress began to explain. "It's not as great for me, but I've felt it growing. Ancient vampires likely would gain even more from it. In the daytime, most vampires are something any of us can handle, but I'm willing to bet that at night, the likes of Jarmak or Harkon are so far above us as to be nearly invincible." The blancette made a small wince at the thought of feeling just Harkon's resting power over her. "Not to mention, not every vampire is as lucky as us. Some are more…vulnerable, up to straight burning when exposed."
"Whoa, some of them can burn from it?!" Ruby blinked in surprise.
"Even I thought that was just a myth," Yang admitted.
"A grain of truth in everything," Blake said before pointing upward. "We're almost there. I can hear wings, so Vulthuryol must be… Wait, something's not right."
With their teammate's forewarning, RWBYL drew their weapons in preparation. As the elevator reached the top and the doors protecting the entrance opened, they immediately began checking all around them as they poured out. As soon as they looked up, however, a red and black mass smashed against the ground, and Vulthuryol's groaning form slid downhill.
"Foolish traitor!" a familiar voice screamed. The red and black striped Malkreinzaan landed, snarling face gazing down at the mortals. "He shouldn't have cast his lot with you, Dovahkiin. Faaz Paak Dinok!"
"Didn't we already kill that guy?" Blake asked as the team braced themselves.
"He must've been revived," Ruby explained, quick-swapping to her hardest hitting magazine on hand before taking aim with Crescent Rose. "Qomotaadmindol said Lotgeindwiin can resurrect other dragons, and he grabbed his body when he left."
"Why's he attacking us by himself though?" Yang wondered as she slid her own special shells into Ember Celica's chambers.
Three shots rang out as Ruby fired, two impacting Malkreinzaan's body before he ducked the third. He let loose a shrieking roar and took to the air, fiery breath leaping from his mouth and pouring down towards the women as they scattered. The dragon banked around and ceased his flames in exchange for a cone of frost that widened itself into a blizzard-like wind. Ruby and Blake fired their guns, but Malkreinzaan instantly retracted his wings and dropped out of the way before flying forward again and focusing in on Yang.
"I remember you! I will burn you and those dogs you fought with!" the dragon roared as he hovered in place, his eyes boring into Yang's.
"No chance, buddy!" Yang declared before jabbing forward and firing Ember Celica at the dragon's face, the Dwemer metal buckshot slamming into his chin and throwing his head up with a concussive impact. He shrieked and somersaulted backwards with the blow to lash his tail towards her, forcing the werewolf to duck as it snapped uncomfortably close, ruffling her hair and splitting the tree behind her enough to fell it.
"All of you will burn! Kun Shul Ag!"
The Burning Light was swept across the landscape, looking for a moment like it had hit one of the girls, only for the body to disappear into motes of shadow, confusing the dragon for a moment. Suddenly, Malkreinzaan went still as something overcame him, and he dropped to the ground, shaking.
"What is-" His eyes landed on the culprit and his snarl grew. Vulthuryol had recovered from where he crashed and was doing something, using his voice to hold a singular tone that he directed at his fellow dragon. One of the 'secrets of power' earned from his time with the Denekfahliil, it would seem. With visible effort and gritting teeth, the more slender dragon turned to face him. "Kun! Shul! Ag!"
As the beam lanced out toward Vulthuryol, a swirl of rose petals sped in, and Ruby appeared before the dragon, breath at the ready.
"Vul Kun Nil!" the Dragonborn Shouted, holding onto the last word.
Darkness and light collided, releasing heat and gravity upon the area. As their Shouts clashed, Blake dashed past Malkreinzaan's side and peppered his leg and wing with pistol bullets that encased them in blossoming boulders, then flipped over him to do the same to his other side, trapping him in place even as he continued to hold his Shout. When the clash ended, he tried to pull himself free, only to find himself well and truly stuck.
"Icerail!" Ruby called out once the crushing darkness had stopped pouring from her throat. "Fastball!"
A ramp of smooth ice was summoned by Weiss, leading straight to the encased dragon. Ruby had taken off at a run toward it, meeting her sister near the edge, who grabbed ahold of her hand and spun before launching her forward onto the ice.
"Wuld Nah!" Ruby Shouted before further accelerating herself as a cloud of petals. She reemerged in a spin, her scythe's blade like a buzzsaw as it made contact with Malkreinzaan's throat. He made a last roar of defiance as he thrashed against his bonds, but the ebony blade sliced through and up into his vertebrae, where Ruby shot out a gravity Dust round to give her a last boost, ripping through the last remnant of resistance and separating the dragon's head from his shoulders.
As the Dragonborn landed, she felt the soul of the vanquished dragon pour into her own. Memories of cowardice and bravery in equal parts combined with arrogance and questionable competence which ran through her mind, quickly pushed down and away from her consciousness. As the body's flesh burned away, leaving a skeleton half-enveloped in stone like a fossil dig site, the team reconvened near the injured Vulthuryol.
"Ain't gotta worry about that one no more," Yang quipped as she walked by the skull of Malkreinzaan.
"With that out of the way, we should be heading back to Fort Dawnguard, yes?" Lydia directed towards her thane.
"Yeah." Ruby then looked up toward Vulthuryol. "You gonna be all right?"
"I shall recover," the dragon said. "It has been some time. My wings do not beat as strong as they once did." His gaze then landed on the dragon skull. "Perhaps I shall…lie low, as you mortals say, for a time."
19th of Sun's Dawn
Dovah, fun Zu'u wo hi los. Grind Zu'u zin! - Dragon, tell me who you are. Greet me honorably!
Gein Dovah! - One dragon! (An expression of loneliness)
Dii hahdrim lost mal - My mind was small/shrunk
Haalvut drem - (I) feel peace/peaceful
Odfahliil - Snow Elves/Falmer
Zaam meyz thur - Slave becomes master
Denekfahliil - Deep Elves/Dwemer (Literally "Dirt Elves")