The wolf and the lioness - The Soul Cairn. (Patreon)

Aegon Targaryen, Volkihar Castle – Skyrim

“This place is incredible,” whispered the Winter Lord as he observed with awe and respect the enormous and imposing laboratory.

“Thank you, this is where my mother spent most of her time when she wasn’t with me. She is a great scholar… you will get along well,” confessed the vampire cautiously, wary of that meeting, to be honest.

“You don’t sound convinced,” said Aegon with amusement, as he inspected the place.

Serana did not respond. She was, evidently, lost in her thoughts.

“My mother is… complicated. Stubborn and arrogant. She will judge you for not being a vampire, and well… I know perfectly well that you are anything but submissive,” the vampire sighed cautiously, as she searched the room for any clue.

Aegon simply nodded and tried to change the subject to ease Serana’s tension.

“This place… this castle, is in total decay, but it has a lot of potential. We could do great things here,” he said calmly, making Serana look at him in surprise.

“Not many would think that about a castle inhabited by a clan of vampires,” said the elegant woman with genuine curiosity in her voice.

Aegon looked at her with amusement before responding.

“It’s a castle on an island, my dear. The murderous vampire clan is the least of it. You saw that they were no real challenge to get here,” said the sorcerer.

Could it sound arrogant? Perhaps, but not untrue.

“I know you are powerful, but my father is no small thing. The rest of the clan are insignificant cockroaches compared to the power of our family. I don’t want you to underestimate him,” said Serana cautiously.

Aegon’s eyes softened, and he nodded slowly.

“Relax, we’ll do it your way. Have you thought about my proposal? I have exchanged letters with someone… they might be able to help you, if you wish,” said the Winter Lord carefully, not wanting to pressure her more than necessary.

Serana stopped abruptly, her hand just inches away from a bookshelf, her gaze completely lost in thought.

“It’s not that simple,” she whispered.

Even saying it felt like tearing something open that had never healed.

Aegon nodded and spoke with as much tact as he could muster.

“I know… and I don’t want to pressure you. I just… want you to know that you have my support, and Ciri’s as well, for whatever you need. I have known you for a short time, but… I recognize a soul asking for help when I see one.”

Serana turned sharply.

Her red eyes burned with pain and fury and her fangs—normally hidden—were fully visible.

“A soul asking for help? I have no soul, Aegon! No dignity! Everything was taken from me centuries ago! I am a daughter of Coldharbour—do you understand what that means?! What I had to go through?! What I was subjected to by my own father?!”

By the end, Serana was shouting, her body trembling with rage, while magic manifested in her hands.

But Aegon saw through it immediately.

Beyond the fury.

Beyond the power.

There was… shame.

Self-hatred.

Her self-worth was shattered.

And Aegon had spent enough time with Ciri to understand something very important.

He didn’t need to speak, not here, not now.

So the Winter Lord walked toward her and, without saying a word, pulled her into his arms.

Not in desire.
Not in lust.

But in support.

He didn’t hold her like a lover… he held her like someone refusing to let her break.

Words were unnecessary.

Serana struck his chest, trying to push him away, as traitorous tears began to fall from her eyes.

“No… no, I don’t deserve it! I don’t deserve you or Ciri, I am nothing!” she said, as her blows weakened, until her hands simply rested against his chest, gripping his robes, her body trembling.

The Winter Lord remained firm as she cried against him, releasing—literally—centuries of pain, agony, and frustration.

Neither of them knew how much time passed.

Minutes.

Hours.

Serana simply rested her face against his chest.

“Your… heart is strong, untamed, and full of life. Your soul is powerful, like a wild flame that burns even in the harshest of winters,” she said cautiously, now moving her hand with extreme slowness over the chest of the Winter Lord, an intimate gesture, shy and uncertain.

Aegon simply embraced her more tightly.

“You are not alone. I do not know the nature of your transformation, and I will not ask about it… but you are not alone. Not anymore,” he said firmly.

Serana inhaled sharply in his arms before speaking, her voice barely a whisper.

“It was… during a ritual. A monstrous one. My father and mother… both worship Molag Bal. Both my mother and I were offered to the Prince of Domination,” she said, trembling in Aegon’s arms.

The words came out broken… like something that had never truly been spoken aloud before.

To be honest, the Winter Lord was not much better.

His brow was deeply furrowed.

His magic… unstable and furious.

Serana described, in a vague but heavy way, the nature of what had happened.

Aegon could do nothing but tremble with fury and hatred.

Toward Harkon.

Toward Valerica.

What kind of monster would subject their own blood to such humiliation and cruelty?

Rage burned through him… cold, controlled… but absolute.

When she finished, Serana fell silent for a moment, still nestled in his arms, before letting out a soft sigh.

“I understand… I understand if after knowing what I am, and how little I am worth… you lose interest in me,” she said with resignation, as if expecting a very specific answer from Aegon.

What did the Winter Lord do?

He pulled her closer.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, tightening the embrace.

The vampire’s surprise was immediate and obvious.

“Do you wish to be free of the curse?” the young warrior asked again, as he gently took her face in his hands.

Serana got lost in those gray eyes.

Her voice failed her.

She simply nodded softly, unable to form words.

“Yes… I want… I want to be free. To not feel the weight of Molag Bal everyday but, I don't know if that is even possible” she said with conviction and desperation, clinging—against her own judgment—to the intense sensations her body was experiencing.

“Then we will cure you. We will find your mother and the last scroll. I will kill your father, purge this rotten place… and then, we will begin again,” said Aegon with conviction, holding her face with care.

There was no doubt in his voice… only certainty.

Serana simply nodded, completely surrendered to the moment.

And then—

An impulse.

An act of rebellion.

Her first real decision.

She rose slightly on her toes and placed a soft, brief kiss on Aegon’s lips.

Barely an instant, before pulling away, breathing unevenly.

A fragile step… but a real one.

“Then… we have work to do. A lot of it,” said the vampire, before turning and walking almost mechanically toward her mother’s journal.

Aegon watched her with amusement.

But also with concern.

They had made progress today.

But they were still far from the goal.

It didn’t matter.

The Winter Lord was patient.

And he knew Ciri was too.

“Then let’s get to work,” he said with enthusiasm, walking toward the strange stone platform at the center of the room.

It was clearly magical.

And far more important than it appeared at first glance.

There was… much to do.

Valerica Volkihar, Soul Cairn.

“Fire weakness, excellent for poisons and tonics,” said Valerica to herself, while examining the soul husks.

Again.

The fact that after centuries she still kept finding incredible effects for the only alchemical ingredient of this decaying place was truly a great feat.

However, while Valerica wrote down the results of her experiments, the Soul Cairn shook completely, with such force that the entire place trembled, sending her to the ground.

“What the hell…” she asked herself as she stood up, only to be sent back to the ground thanks to another tremor. This time, the sky of the place seemed agitated, furious.

Storms struck the desolate wasteland, but even so, Valerica was able to observe something she never thought she would see in her life.

One of the Soul Cairn crystals, linked to the Keepers that maintained her in this putrid place, had shattered into pieces, releasing the thousands of souls it used as energy.

“What the hell is happening?” the vampire asked herself, as she approached the magical barrier that had turned into her prison, opening her eyes in enormous surprise upon seeing it weakened.

That could only mean one thing.

Someone was attacking the Soul Cairn, someone powerful, considering the damage being done to the place.

Valerica looked toward the sky with cruel pleasure, smiling upon seeing the Masters of this place furious, enraged. The skies were filled with lightning striking across the entire place, and even so, Valerica was able to detect something particular.

Fear… the Ideal Masters were afraid of whoever was causing havoc in their small and pathetic domain.

Several minutes later, Valerica lifted her gaze upon hearing another explosion strike the place, at the same time that a second crystal imploded, shattering into pieces and releasing thousands more souls.

“Shit,” she whispered to herself. The ground trembled, but the skies…

The skies were… broken, for lack of the technical knowledge to describe what she was seeing.

The eternal storm and the black clouds that had been her only company for centuries had begun to dissipate, showing small cracks becoming visible. They were tiny, and the clouds quickly closed them, but not fast enough to prevent the trapped souls from using them to escape. For the first time since its creation, souls were escaping the Soul Cairn.

“Something is happening,” said a heavy, powerful and ancient voice behind her, at the same time that the body of Durnehviir appeared above the mausoleum, looking toward the skies and roaring.

Valerica rolled her eyes at the obvious observation.

“Are you able to detect who is responsible for this curious event?” she asked, while focusing her gaze toward the unstable sky.

“I am. It is one of my brothers, a powerful one, a Dovah!” he said with more emotion than he had felt in eras.

Hope… something he had buried long ago.

Valerica lifted her gaze to ask something else, just at the moment the third of the enormous crystals collapsed, this explosion far more intense and blinding than the previous ones, releasing an even greater amount of souls and, in the process, eliminating the barrier of Valerica’s prison.

“The power of the Ideal Masters… weakens, the Soul Cairn breaks. Without the trapped souls, they lack the power to maintain the prison,” said the dragon, watching as the cracks grew larger. The millions of souls flew across the entire place, wishing to escape, like a furious swarm waiting for the smallest opportunity.

“Could this be the end of your condemnation?” Valerica asked with genuine curiosity on her face.

However, Durnehviir did not bother to respond for a long time, his putrid body staring at the skies with an incredible longing.

“The power of the Masters over my SIL weakens, perhaps… perhaps I can escape and return to the arms of ZEYMAH,”

The tone of the cursed dragon was one of deep longing, and Valerica could not help but feel a bit of empathy. Being trapped for all eternity was… cruel, for any living being without exception.

“You can fly and try to break the sky like the rest of the souls, perhaps with your help they could—”

Valerica’s words were interrupted by a familiar scream, a beautiful feminine voice that she had missed far too much to describe.

“MOTHER!”

That voice… the voice of her daughter, of her Serana.

“Serana?” she asked, her voice vulnerable for the first time in centuries, as her daughter entered the mausoleum, magic in her hands and accompanied by a…

A man?

Valerica frowned as she walked slowly toward her daughter, without taking her eyes off her companion. However, the reaction of her jailer was the most interesting.

“Dovahkiin,” he whispered, observing him with interest, but not daring to approach.

Valerica reached her daughter, she looked well, straight back and perfect posture, her body denoted… power and confidence.

“I am glad to see you, daughter,” said the vampire sincerely, smiling softly toward the young Serana.

Her daughter responded in the same way, although her smile did not reach her eyes, it was evident that she had mixed feelings.

And Valerica could not blame her.

“We cannot waste time, we must leave,” said her daughter, making Valerica frown.

“Leave? We cannot leave, this place, although terrible and nauseating, is safe,” said the vampire.

Serana looked at her for a few moments before shaking her head.

“That was not a question, this place does not have much time left,” said her daughter.

Valerica looked at her daughter with concern, but Serana’s attention was no longer on her mother, but on her companion, who had walked toward the center of the mausoleum, looking toward the sky, his face hidden beneath enchanted armor, completely impassive.

“Drem Yol Lok, Zeymahzin,” said Durnehviir with total respect, a tone of voice Valerica had never heard from the ancient being.

The mysterious human looked at the imposing dragon and said.

“You are far from home, far from the warmth of Akatosh.”

And his words seemed to affect the imposing Dovah greatly.

“A consequence of my own decisions, my prison in this place is my condemnation,” he said, accepting his situation.

“Not for long,” he said, and immediately after, focused all his attention on the sky and began to inhale deeply.

The air grew heavy… as if reality itself braced for impact.

“Who the hell is he, Serana?” Valerica demanded, but her daughter did not give her an answer.

“Someone important and powerful,” she said, looking at him with admiration and… love?

Valerica frowned and opened her mouth to demand an explanation from her daughter, but was interrupted by a powerful explosion coming from Serana’s strange companion, who looked toward the sky, completely focused.

“VIIR… NOK… DIIL!”

As soon as the words were spoken, a thunderous and titanic explosion shook the entire place, a burst of magic emerged from the stranger’s throat, who fell to his knees upon casting the mysterious and powerful spell.

Durnehviir moved away for a moment, before raising his gaze and releasing a roar of triumph and joy upon seeing the results of such a powerful spell.

And when Valerica did the same…

“Shit,” was her only reaction.

She did not understand the purpose of such powerful words, but the Soul Cairn… had been torn apart.

An enormous and immense breach had appeared in the sky, which was slowly growing larger, through which all the imprisoned souls had begun to escape.

And without souls present…

“Let’s go, mother, this place will collapse,” ordered her daughter, while running toward the stranger.

Valerica looked at her in disbelief for a moment, before shaking her head and running toward her study, taking the most important notes of her research, some samples and, most importantly…

The Elder Scroll.

When she returned, Serana was holding the man intimately, who was still evidently exhausted, barely able to stand.

“Come on, Aegon, come on, we have to go!” said her daughter urgently, while everything around them was being absorbed by the ever-growing magical vortex in the sky.

Without the souls, the Masters lost their power rapidly, and without power…

The Soul Cairn could not sustain itself.

“He won’t make it, we have to go,” said Valerica, looking at the man with indifference, but wanting to take her daughter away as soon as possible.

Serana looked at her with fierce and protective eyes, placing her body around the human as if he were her…

Oh no…

“I won’t leave him, we… AHHHHG”

Her daughter’s response was interrupted by Durnehviir, who, without the delicacy of asking, simply grabbed Serana and her… friend in one claw and Valerica in the other, before beginning to fly.

Directly toward the terrifying magical vortex.

Valerica, furious and terrified, looked at the stupid dragon and shouted:

“You’re going to kill us all, you idiot!”

But Durnehviir did not listen, he simply continued flying toward the vortex, with a desperation that can only be born from captivity.

With a desire for freedom.

“Father, Akatosh, I return home!”

And without hesitation, the dragon crossed the threshold, with Valerica, her daughter, and the strange human, just as the entire Soul Cairn collapsed.

A light flooded Valerica’s vision for an instant and then…

Darkness.