Mage (A Skyrim Fanfiction)

Chapter 34: Loyalty Among Liars

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"I suppose there's no point in concealing the truth any longer."

Finally raising his eyes to meet my irked gaze, Erandur's expression was one of resigned guilt. "My knowledge of this temple does not come from a 'previous visit'. I was once a priest of Vaermina."

"And were you ever going to tell me this?" I asked, only slightly mollified by his admittance that he had been hiding a very important detail of his past, "Don't you think this was something I ought to have known before we ever came here?"

"Yes, you're right. I should have told you, but I didn't know what to say," he sighed, going silent for a few moments as he seemed to think about his next words. "When the orcs raided the temple, I fled. I left my brothers and sisters behind to die. I was a coward, only concerned with my own safety."

"I've spent the last few decades living in regret and seeking redemption from Mara," he continued, his tone genuinely determined, "And by Her Benevolence, I will right my wrongs."

Even though I had now established that the priest had no problems whatsoever blatantly lying to someone who had agreed to help him, he seemed genuinely remorseful about it - and granted, I could understand wanting to keep something like that to myself.

That didn't make it any easier to trust him. I wasn't sure what he considered 'righting his wrongs', and that concerned me. Did he really intend on destroying the Skull, or was he going to try and regain the Prince's favor? For the time being, however, heckling the man further over the falsehood he'd originally spun would be a waste of time, and likely completely unnecessary. "I see. All right, what kind of book are we looking for?"

Erandur seemed more than willing to change the topic of discussion, answering me quickly. "We're looking for a book of alchemical recipes called 'The Dreamstride'. The tome bears the likeness of Vaermina on the cover. It should still be here somewhere."

I nodded in response before turning my focus to the ruined bookshelves immediately surrounding us, a cursory glance informing me everything within the circle of shelves on the lowest floor were all damaged beyond usability. Deciding to leave that area and give the place a once-over to find any tomes that had not been horrendously damaged, I did a quick sweep of the lowest level, moving as swiftly as I could without causing further pain to myself. While I did not find what we were looking for, I did manage to come across one book that seemed largely undamaged by the horrible conditions around it, lying face-upwards on an uncovered iron pedestal. Curious, I picked it up and opened it. Sixteen accords of Madness: Volume Six. Huh. Haven't seen this title before. It might just be worth taking, I thought, noticing it was a good volume and, provided I survived this, it would likely be quite helpful for enduring future long, sleepless nights. I swung my knapsack onto one shoulder so that I could reach it, and quickly stuffed the book in before readjusting my pack and continuing to search, not entirely certain if what I'd done could be considered 'stealing' when its previous owners were seemingly all comatose or soon-to-be deceased.

I chanced to cast a look around the room once I reached the top of the stairs to what I considered the second floor, and, though I could just barely make it out through the concerningly thick remnants of the Miasma, I caught a glimpse of a pale blue book of considerable size located diagonally across from me. Even if it wasn't what I was looking for, it was doubtless still of some value. I picked my way back across to the center of the room, only to discover that the only way over to obtain this tome was to cross a very unstable looking stone pillar. Best not to overthink it. You haven't found the book so far, and what if this is it?