Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Return, 22.2) (Patreon)

Immediately I was on the backfoot. Umbra’s edge rattled against my halberd, which I brought up just in time. Sparks flew from the enchantment as he battered it. He struck a dozen times in a heartbeat. I was backing away, trying to keep space with my longer weapon, but Umbra just kept approaching.

It’s hard to describe Umbra’s sheer speed. It wasn’t just that he knew what he was doing. It wasn’t just that he was as strong as I was, and more heavily armored. It was the constant encroachment, the crawl to consume your space even as you’re parrying or deflecting attacks that can and would kill you if you faltered for a moment. It was only due to my warm up with that prince of Firsthold and a Speed enhancing potion that I wasn’t immediately destroyed.

I whipped the halberd overhead, one-handed, and he backed away before the hook-blade of my halberd could punch through his helmet. That bought me enough space to focus.“Sessalan!” I called, and he burst into reality, both oar-blades swinging as he charged. With twice as many arms wielding twice as many blades, studying as one of Hemeaus Mora’s most warlike daedra, Sessalan was able to hold back Umbra.For half a second. 

Then Sessalan had three arms.Over his shoulder, I blasted at Umbra with one of the most potent destruction spells I had access to. It caught the blast along the edge of its blade, flicking it off like it was water- and then brought it back up to deflect another of Sessalan’s attacks. He didn’t even miss a beat.That bought Sessalan an opportunity to catch Umbra with both blades, a swipe that knocked the ebony-clad warrior away. It didn’t punch through his armor much, but it bought us time. The wizards following him were bowled over, and I saw the magickal link between the casters and Umbra falter for a moment. For that second, Umbra was weaker and slower. Actually possible to defeat, until the casters were ready again to focus on their spells.Right. Fortification magic and Rally spells. If I got rid of the casters, Umbra would be killable. Again.

He threw himself back into the fight, kicking off his summoners with no regard for them, and the blade ripped through Sesslan’s torso.

One of the Thalmor Logicians fell back, his corpse hitting the ground as my fire blast ripped through his body. Two more of them- his ‘triplets’ clenched their chests, distracted. But Sessalan was gone.

Even losing some of his enchantments, Umbra was still too much for me.I ran.I leapt up onto the research tables, stomping on and over them. With mind and limb, I threw things at him. Tables, chairs. It barely slowed him down- he would take a step and swipe up and through.

Shuriken from my belt whipped out through the air. He blocked them, and even twisted his wrist in a way that sent one whizzing past me, close enough almost to kill me with my own weapon. 

He leapt up on the long research desk with me, and I gave it a good, solid telekinetic blast. He leapt off of it before it could knock his feet out from under him, and it went sailing into the spellcasters supporting him.I could almost see his sudden weakness. He didn’t stagger, per se- Umbra was too elegant for that- but he slowed down.

So I blasted the air in front of him with a burst of telekinetic force as well. It wasn’t something he could see, and I doubted he could sense it either. The gust knocked him off his feet for a moment.

Right. I could do this.I kept backing up. Umbra kept accelerating. Shields, telekinetic blasts. Destruction magic. I peppered him with anything and everything I could. He kept closing, and the Thalmor supporting him kept following as well. They had to stay close enough, of course. Past the containment cells. Past the daedra.Which is, of course, when I focused a disintegration effect like a needle. Umbra dodged out of the way, but I wasn’t aiming at him, not really.

The spellcasters could see it as well, but it wasn’t aimed for them either.

But when the rune controlling the force well holding the daedra in was broken, and all oblivion broke loose.

At least, the subjects the Mirror Logicians had been studying.Umbra was on me instantly. My halberd caught a heavy blow that brought me to my knees. I kicked out at his feet, using my tail for leverage, but he took a step back before I could trip him. Which is when a Scamp ripped the face off of another one of the spellcasters supporting him.

Umbra slowed.The fire atronach, immediately detonated as soon as it was free. The blast sent Umbra stumbling for a moment, his figure the only thing protecting me from it. The spellcasters weren’t nearly so lucky. Some of them were groaning on the ground, badly injured, while at least one more was killed.

I let go of my Halberd, and shoved both my palms toward Umbra.

“Fus!” I belted, my throat closing up over the Thu’um. It drained me, body and soul, but as I thrust Magicka up into Umbra from below, he slammed into the ceiling. Magicka poured from both arms as I held him there.Soulless abyss stared down at me through the visor. He sat there. Waiting. He knew I’d be out of Magicka eventually. 

“Silence,” One of the Thalmor hissed, and the world congealed.Magicka suddenly refused to leave my body, oppressed by the force of the Silence spell.Umbra fell toward me.I whipped the halberd up, pointed right below, for him to fall onto- and Umbra did something impossible.

He did a full airborne pirouette and struck the waiting tip of my halberd with his blade. The momentum had him shoot away from it, landing gracefully on the opposite end of the now-blasted laboratory, between me and the Thalmor. His armor barely clinked.

I got back to my feet. The Thu’um had taken a lot out of me, more than I expected. I wobbled a bit, ready for the fight-

Two gleaming, conjured swords whipped over my shoulders. Umbra knocked them out of the air- and two more swords ripped past. Then more. And more. Umbra strode into the storm as I got out of the way, his visor locked onto someone in the room behind me.

Goranthir stormed into the blasted laboratory, his finery ripped and torn. Sweat beaded onto his brow, and his jaw was working, spitting, as he tried to talk despite the Silence. He focused, and more conjured swords appeared in his hands. He flung them as soon as he did.I didn’t know how he was doing that with the Silence effect, but I wasn’t about to look a gift Steed in the mouth.Instead, I charged past them, toward the spellcasters. Umbra didn’t even pay attention to me.

I had to make the most of the opportunity. The casters weren’t able to buff Umbra anymore, not with the Silence.They weren’t able to protect themselves, either. I stabbed deep, whipping through them with my Halberd. I had to hurry before Goranthir was killed. The Thalmor collapsed as soon as I collided with them. There weren’t many left, and the Silence had gone up before they could finish healing themselves, so I just ripped through them without any hesitation. I piled up elf corpses like logs in the winter, and as soon as the last one was dead and sound returned, I could hear a rapid beat of sparks and clanging metal.Umbra was slower than he was before, and weaker, but he should have been far beyond Goranthir. Except the kid was keeping up. Even as sweat beaded on his brow, as he fought to exhaustion, he was pushing himself. He would bring up weapons, parry them or defend himself, and then let go, bringing up new ones before the first ones could finish dissolving.

I charged Umbra from behind, shooting toward him like a rocket. Through the entire line of my body, I thrust the halberd.Umbra’s entire arm contorted itself. I could almost see his shoulder dislocate himself as he folded his arm behind his back to parry my blow, batting it out of the way.My shoulder slammed into Umbra instead, just as Goranthir thrust both conjured blades into Umbra’s visor. Goranthir’s blade shattered against the inside of Umbra’s ebony helmet as his current body died. It was almost like he’d preferred to have Goranthir kill him than me.Umbra’s true existence, the sword, fell from nerveless fingers and clattered against the ground.

The two of us stood in the blasted, abandoned room, panting and exhausted. Goranthir almost collapsed on the spot, falling onto his ass. “What… the hell…” I panted, sitting down as well. “Are you doing here? How the fuck… did you even get in?”

“... I had a bad feeling. Decided to check out the Tower myself. It was… full of monsters,” He panted.“You could see it?” I asked.“Yes,” He said, taking a moment to breathe. “The bodyguards I brought with me could not, though. I was the only one.” He said. 

“And you decided to try your luck because…”“It is the right thing to do.” He said. “I have a duty to my future people- or more likely, my sister’s future people- to protect them.”

I looked at him. I really looked at him.

“Fine, then.” I said. “Let’s go kill more wizards.”

He nodded.

===

I didn’t know how I’d missed them the first time I went through the tower, but there were a lot of monsters. Creatures that had come from the beastiary, conjured Daedra lying in wait, even another pair of Guardians. With help from Goranthir and some time to recoalesce Sessalan, though, the three of us have been able to get through the tower without incident. 

One thing to note was that a lot of the puzzle bullshit seemed so much easier, though. Goranthir was able to cut through most of it intuitively. Color patterns to get into the right Adjacent Place. Where to put each of the crystal prisms in the right sconces to shift into a reality where a wall was a hallway, that sort of thing. It was interesting to see his thought process from the outside. If I didn’t know any better, it was almost like he was casting Clairvoyance constantly. But I would have felt that. Instead, he just sort of knew.“What’s your birth sign?”“Me? The Steed,” He said, casually picking up a key from under a set of papers. “My father has noticed it seems to be particularly strong in me. Why do you ask?”“No reason,” I lied. “Have you ever been imprisoned?”

“What? No, of course not. There were a few minor incidents that could have seen me in a holding cell a few times. Do you think being locked inside by my guard counts?” He asked.

I wasn’t sure. It was kind of a silly thought, anyway. It would be centuries until the next Hero, after all. 

“We’re almost to the top,” I said. “Do you know anything about it?”“I know the Stone at the top is dangerous,” Goranthir said. “It’s supposed to show you something. People have to look at it in order to become a Mirror Logician, and that kind of messes with their heads. Sometimes people don’t come back at all. It is assumed that they die, but… I don’t know what happens with the bodies.”

“Right. You’re not coming up, then,” I said. “You stay here, and I’ll go up alone.”Almost immediately, I knew that was a mistake. He raised his eyebrows, and I felt an immediate opposition from him. He was more polite than most about it, but he was the kind of person that would do something specifically because someone told him not to.I sighed. “Think about it this way. If I’m focusing on both stopping this and not going crazy or dying, I need to make sure nobody or nothing comes up after us. You’ll need to protect me.”

After a moment, I pulled up Umbra. It was still wrapped in the cloth we’d wrapped it up in, and I handed it to him.“I thought you said not to use this,” He said.“If you can help it. It likes to, you know. Take souls from its wielder if they use it too long. Then it puppets them like a shell. But if you need it… Don’t hesitate.”“... Alright,” He says. “I’ll stand guard.”I let go of the breath I was holding. He was just a kid, after all. I didn’t want him to face this. Hell, I didn’t want to face this myself.I nodded to him, and walked up the ancient, merethic-era stairs. 

To the top.

Step by step.

===

The horizon stretched around me like it was distorted through a lens. The tower was too large, too many towers layered over itself in one place. The sky burned purple and red as the setting sun cast rays against the clouds and sky. It was behind me, my shadow growing long as I walked toward the Crystal Tower’s Stone. I’d never known the name of it, and I wasn’t sure if I ever would. I didn’t look directly at it, just in case. I was pretty sure I was safe, but I had the feeling it might make Shadow Magic even more difficult for me.

The stone was screaming. It screamed like a lighthouse shed light, like a flare called for attention. It was the shriek of ZERO-SUM.Lovilian Silmane was standing there, obviously, as the horizon stretched around us. This wasn’t the same him I had met before. The one I had met was a fragment, a fractured version. This one was a different piece, wearing the black and gold robes of a Thalmor Agent.

“... The fragment I talked to before was pretty reasonable, you know.” I said. “Have you considered not murdering a bunch of people?”He turned to me.“01001110 01001111,” he said in a voice like shattering glass. His lips didn’t move.

Oookay then.

“Right,” I said aloud, “that’s reassuring.”

His eyes reflected me and the sun in them, almost blinding me with the reflection of the setting sun. Something told me that if I’d understood what he just said, I might just not exist anymore.

He didn’t move, or raise an arm. I didn’t feel any Magicka pour from him. Instead, reality ripped itself open, and a blast of destruction magic emerged.It split into two. Then into five. Then into eleven. It divided and multiplied until a veritable storm came down toward me.

I focused on them, my Shadow Magic grabbing at it, refactoring it. I pushed my will into it. I congealed it back into simplicity. All possibilities merged, rather than divided.I caught the edge of the singular blast on my halberd.

Along with the wail of a woman’s scream, Numidium grew closer.