The Dragonborn

Part 108

Jack lifted the cover just a little, then jumped back as the book flipped open on its own. It had turned to the first page. It looked so... normal. Mark raised his sword, glancing around at the walls like something might come through them. Even Frea gripped her axe uneasily. Jack stepped back up to the book, reading aloud for them. "Waking dreams of a starless sky by Bilius Felcrex. The eyes once bleached by falling stars of utmost revelation, will forever see the faint insight drawn by the overwhelming question, as only the true enquiry shapes the edge of thought. The rest is vulgar fiction, attempts to impose order on the consensus mantling's of an uncaring godhead." Jack glanced over his shoulder, telling Mark curiously. "So... It's a book taking about the injustice of Hermaeus Mora? Why would Miraak covet something like this? It seems like a waste..." Mark eyed the walls closely, before turning to him to say cautiously. "I don't know. This feels like a trap. I think we should leave now." Jack looked at another tunnel leading to the next room, when Mark shouted at him. "JACK!" Jack whirled around to see Mark lunging for him but Mark was knocked away by a massive black tentacle!

Looking back at the open book, Jack took a few steps back. Massive slimy black tentacles were oozing out from the pages to surround him. A tentacle wrapped around his throat and arms, pulling him back toward the book. Jack dug his heels into the floor, yelling in resistance. Frea swung her axe to try to cut away the tentacles from him. Her axe merely passed through them like water. Mark scrambled to his feet, rushing in to hold Jack back as he shouted to Frea through clenched teeth. "Destroy the book!" Even with all of Mark's strength, the tentacles were easily pulling him up to the podium. Two tentacles latched around Jack's wrists pulling his hands over the pages of the book. Frea raised her axe, hesitating as she told Mark. "I can't! I'll hit Jack!" Jack let out a scream as his hands were pulled down onto the old dusty pages. The tentacles lashed out wildly around him, knocking both Mark and Frea away to the floor. Jack shut his eyes feeling himself being drawn into the book.

This wasn't a damn book... It was Hermaeus Mora's version of a shrine and he was pulling him through the veil between worlds. Jack was pulled into a pitch-black darkness. He felt like he was falling, but he really couldn't tell. All he felt were the tentacles around his wrists holding him in a tight grip. Then without warning they released him, and he fell through the blackness to a solid stone floor. The air had been knocked from his lungs and his vision was a blurry mess. The place smelled like swamp water and freshly printed books. As his vision improved little by little, he made out a black starless sky with green mist that appeared to light the place up. Jack slowly sat up, his vision starting to make out large shapes as a familiar voice spoke aloud to large figures nearby. "The time comes soon when..." Jack rose slowly to his feet, finally getting a semi clear view of the people in this open looking courtyard. He didn't recognize the two squid figures that hovered nearby, but he recognized the human addressing them. Jack glanced around for his friends, but they hadn't come through with him. He was alone.

He didn't have time to prepare anything when a squid faced being pointed in his direction without a word. Miraak whirled around to face him and Jack's heart stopped. He had caught Miraak by surprise. Miraak raised a hand and Jack tried to throw up a ward to protect himself... but nothing happened. Miraak's hand generated lightening that was unlike anything Jack had ever seen. It was wild and intense. It was more like a literal storm from his hand. Miraak didn't throw it or send it in his direction... it sought him out! The lightening shot up into the air to connect with the sky, then it struck the ground and rippled across the floor toward his feet. Jack had never seen power like this. While he was frozen with fear, the lightning struck him from above! The lightening zapped him right between the shoulder blades as he was dropping into a feeble position. Screaming as loud as his lungs allowed. His muscles cinched up so tight that he thought they might burst from compression! It happened in a few seconds, but he felt like he had endured the shocking experience for hours.