The Dragonborn

Part 92

Jack locked eyes with Hermaeus Mora, stating out in disbelief. "It was you. You wiped out the Dwemer!" Hermaeus looked simply detached upon answering in a deep bellowing voice that reverberated off the metal walls. "That's not important. We've got work to do. Come, my champion." Jack shook his head, backing up against the far wall. Hermaeus Mora's large center eye narrowed on him in a slightly stern glare. Jack clenched his jaw, sneering out loud through his teeth with distaste. "I am not your champion, Monster!" Hermaeus Mora's slimy mass of eyes moved farther into the room to float before the pillar with the book. Jack glanced around to see if the tunnel had cleared up enough to escape, but his entangled mass was still blocking it. Hermaeus Mora was growing bigger to be sure that there was no escape for him. Two slimy tentacles moved to rest on the sides of the pillar like eerie hands.  

Looking over the book with a soft expression, Hermaeus then turned his large eye back into a glare as he looked back up at him to boast out proudly. "Who do you think brought Septimus here? Who do you think protected you on your journey to open the box and loose my knowledge on this world? You owe me a debt, Champion. I don't do that for just anyone." Jack huffed loudly, defiantly yelling back. "I owe you NOTHING! My own free will got me this far!" Hermaeus Mora let out a deep throaty chuckle, answering smugly. "Your free will is an illusion. Whether you acknowledge me or not is your own business, but I will be in your mind." Jack stayed pressed back against the wall, remaining very still as more tentacles extended toward him to brush over his cheeks like a lovers caress. He didn't like how Hermaeus had said that. One of Hermaeus Mora's other tentacles stroked down the cover of the book lovingly, telling him in a deep buttery voice.

"Now, you have my oghma infinium. It contains the knowledge of the ages as revealed to Xarxes. My loyal servant. For hundreds of years, its been shut away from the world. Septimus was a useful tool for unleashing it." Jack stared at him with an uneasy expression. Hermaeus Mora's large eye looked up at him again, reading his mind like an open book as he informed him coolly. "Xarxes was an elven wizard. A sage and scribe. An ancient snow elven god. The snow elves version of Akatosh. He wrote this book with the knowledge I gave him. It's a powerful ancient tome of knowledge that only my champion has the honor of beholding. This is my gift to you. With it, you will repay my generosity." Jack's eyes flicked from the book back up to Hermaeus Mora, telling him nervously. "No thank you. I don't want it. Just tell me what you know about Miraak and I'll be on my way." Hermaeus Mora's tentacles curled around the pillar in anger, while the tentacles caressing his face moved down to his throat.  Hermaeus's voice then began sneering out from every corner of the room. "You're rejecting my gift of knowledge? Knowledge that men have died to possess? Do you think yourself wiser than I?"

Jack finally raised his hands away from the wall in surrender, quickly answering. "No! I just don't want it. The last race that tried to use it were wiped out... I only want to know what you know about Miraak."  More of Hermaeus Mora's tentacles shot out to wrap around his wrists, pulling him closer to the pillar by force. Jack tried to resist, but Hermaeus was beyond any strength he hoped to possess.  The tentacles forced Jack's hands down on either side of the book, while Hermaeus moved in closer to stare him down, bellowing out coldly. "You and I want the same thing. You desire to take down Miraak, yes? Then here lies the answer to our problems. Accept my knowledge and I will reveal what I know. Refuse and I will make your last days VERY unpleasant. You have a strong will, Dragonborn... But my will is unmatched. You don't want me as your enemy." Jack stared at the book feeling uneasy for a fleeting second, before he grinned slightly.

Hermaeus's eye narrowed on him curiously as Jack curiously asked him. "Miraak has made an enemy of you... but you need my help to defeat him?" Hermaeus's grip on his wrists and neck loosened only a little as a very soft chuckle let him. Humor reflected in his large eye, upon telling him much calmer. "Aren't you a clever one. I picked my champion well. Accept my knowledge and I will tell you why." Jack swallowed, curiously asking him. "And if I don't?" Jack shivered as tentacles began to wrap around his legs and waist tightly. Two tentacles extended out toward his chest, slithering up under his shirt.  The tentacles wrapped themselves up in his tunic shirt, bringing him closer to his large eye.  Jack cringed in disgust, feeling the warm slimy tentacles touch his skin.  Neither one of them blinked or looked away from each other though as Hermaeus answered curtly. "Miraak has learned wards to protect himself from me... What protects your fragile body from me? I can break you down piece by piece. Both physically and mentally. However, waiting around for another Dragonborn to be born is quite taxing..."