I
On this bleak day, I write to you my old friend this letter wherein I tell of a matter of utmost urgency that requires your attention. I'm aware I could have written to the venerable Arch Mage or to his majesty the Emperor but the way I see it, I inferred it's best I speak to you for you're most likely the only one who, to my knowledge, has the capabilities necessary to understand the underlying implications of these events and correctly assess the situation, giving it the attention it deserves. Furthermore, I'm certain that what I'm about to relay to you will be heard due to your ties to men and women within the Empire and, of course, more unsavory folk.
I can not stress enough that this is an important matter that cannot wait, the explanation of which will yield answers as to how and why I came to fear the night sky and quench your thirst for knowledge in regards to your inquiry as to my recently developed refusal to leave the house after dusk. The things I've witnessed, both visible and audible, are of the most grave concern, the events that unfolded being of such ghastly purport I almost not dare speak of them as they twist and warp my mind, affright me into not believing half the things I saw and most certainly all the things I felt. But it is my duty to speak up to you pertaining to these happenings, as many valuable people perished in their scientific zeal to bring about this report, and all the information contained therein, that I filed.
It all began a couple of months ago, when a very peculiar starry phenomenon took place in the dark skies after sunset among the stars and the constellations. Everyone, from upstanding citizen to marauder or guardsman all the way up to the scholars and mages of Tamriel, bore witness to the far-off celestial mounds in the heavens changing colour. Over the course of a few days, the skies adopted a purplish tint until, at last, all was tinged in a strong, violet luminescence, embracing the world with a ghostly hue reflecting off bodies of water as well as glass panes, armours and mountains everywhere, granting the nights during this strange period a nightmarish quality of uncanny uneasiness.
However, after months of arcane research, which I myself also partook in for my general scientific inquisitiveness as I'm sure you're well aware, yielding no results whatsoever, the brightly shining colour that would bathe the horizons in such queer incandescence and almost seemed like it soiled the very space among and around Mundus, suddenly dissipated.
Just like that. You know, I'm a scholar in the field of Ayleid language and culture, knowing next to nothing about arcane astronomy, but even so I just had a sense of something being off which worried me greatly. I couldn't place that feeling but something appeared to stir inside me as I suspected this phenomenon held secrets that needed uncovering, yet I knew not where to start digging. But I was completely unknowing towards the fact that I should get an opportunity to do just that very soon.
Now, what follows is also for the majority of the information contained within the original notes we took and that I attached to this letter, compiled by me and my associates. But I feel it doesn't convey the terrors our group experienced over all those arduous days of research. What you're about to read might sound like the ravings of a madman but I beseech you to see it through to the end for the fate of the world might be at stake. For the past fifteen years you've been my ally, always there when I needed you most. So I implore you to trust me as well on this.
On the 20th of Sun's Dawn this year, 4E208, me and a few closely related colleagues planned on conducting research in regards to Ayleid history and culture whereby we agreed upon venturing to the ruins of Malada. It is situated betwixt the Collapsed Mine and Arrowshaft Cavern that lie to the southeast and the Abandoned Mine to the northeast. Northwest of it lies Lost Boy Cavern near Lake Canulus when you take the Yellow Road from Leyawiin and follow it, crossing the bridge leading over the Panther River and then about halfway towards the Silverfish River. Make a sharp right in the direction of the Nibenay Valley and travel past Bedrock Break. Soon, Fort Cuptor should come into view and if you circumvent it and the adjacent lake on the right hand side, you will soon find yourself at the ruins of Malada.
Me and my associates who were presently residing in the Five Claws Lodge in Leyawiin, avidly studying the Legend of the Black Child who was said to have escaped from the Leyawiin Dungeons about 71 years prior, found during our investigations into the matter some really quite peculiar connections to said legend and Ayleid myths of old. We collectively raised our eyebrows at the notion of a very obscure link between these myths, the legend and the Calamity of Winterhold that took place in 4E139.
At some point during our research, my closest friend among our squad of scientists, Lilisephona, an Altmer of staggering beauty and unparalleled wit in the field of old Ayleidoon magic, stumbled upon the name 'Malada' mentioned in antediluvian legendry as some sort of gate or entryway for an unheard of deity of which the name has just slipped my mind. And so, Horace Whitebeard, a stout Nord whom I met in Skyrim during the civil war and persuaded him to travel to Cyrodiil with me in quest of less violent pursuits, proposed we travel there, scraping together rations and tents, soul gems and firewood to set up camp near the ruins when we get there.
Our slightly shady Dunmer friend, Azarain Helath, shut his books in agreement and joined Horace in providing necessary sustenance for the days to come. The two of them were both quite well versed when it came to Ayleid architecture and met during an expedition to one of the many ruins in the Heartland. Our Redguard swordswoman Ravaia, who was a close friend of Lilisephona's and accompanied our every journey saving our hides more than once, proclaimed to go and fetch some fresh weaponry and get her armour repaired before the joint venture began, asking if Lilisephona was also on board to roam the town with her and chat about this or that to which Lili agreed, grabbing each and every book on the topic she could find and wait together with Ravaia on the rest so we could start our pilgrimage the next morning.
They all started to leave when Azarain turned around just before he touched the entrance door to the lodge and asked me how I'm gonna prepare myself. As impatient a fellow as I am, I told the already scattering group I'd travel to the ruins immediately, getting a grasp on the situation, waiting inside the ruins for my friends. Lili and the others shook their heads in disbelief, trying to deter me but I had this queer feeling that I must go right that instant. In an effort to ease their minds I reminded them that I'm not only a scholar but a decent destruction mage as well. Besides, I added, I can read Ayleidoon so they needn't worry about me not knowing where the lavatory was. After a cheerful, albeit brief, laugh, my friends finally complied but would reiterate their concerns in regards to my lone venture. After all was set and everybody busy prepping, I set out to travel to those ruins to see what I might find.
While everybody was busy getting out of the lodge onto the open streets I followed them, waving them all goodbye watching how they disappeared into the streets and nearby shops. Without much stalling and even missing to buy any provisions for the road I went straight for the city gates. I knew my friends would arrive in due time so I wasn't worried about hunger or thirst. Also, I didn't need weapons anyway for my destruction magic should ward off any who might assault me.
I remembered past adventures I had with Lili and how she taught me everything I knew about offensive spells. I met her a couple of years ago during the dragon crisis of Skyrim in 4E201. She used to be a Thalmor agent, believe it or not, and on a very special day, when I went on a pilgrimage to the Throat of the World, I came across her who just descended (and as it later turned out just came back from a mission involving questioning of the Greybeards).
To our surprise, we heard a loud thunderclap just when we were about to walk past each other. We looked up into the sky and saw a person fly off the top of the mountain with rapid speed. They quickly fell down and we would hear a nasty explosive splashing sound as they hit the ground. I recall that moment clear as day when our gazes met in utter shock. We went up the serpentine, snowed in roads as fast as we could but who or what caused that strange display of force vanished.
On our descent we fired up a conversation and thereby discovered our shared interest in the old and antique. About a year later she found me in an inn, somewhere in Solitude I believe, and told me she defected from the Thalmor. For her safety, she hired a sellsword by the name of Ravaia who we would come to befriend later. By that time I've already met Horace and Azarain and so the five of us headed straight for Cyrodiil. And now, after a couple of years in which we've grown very attached to each other, we decided to investigate a legendary myth that perhaps had the power to change the world.
And I spearheaded the operation by traveling to the ruins first. The journey itself was fairly uneventful, thank the Divines. The only minor problem I encountered was a pack of wolves, six or seven if I recall correctly, that closed in on me shortly after I crossed the river heading towards the Nibenay Valley. However I managed to scare them into flight after I've lit their tails on fire with a few well-placed fireballs and dispersed the remaining stragglers by usage of lightning strikes, forcing them back into the woods whence they came.
From that point forward, the rest of the way was quickly traversed and after I passed by the old fort and lake I could see the looming ruins of Malada come into view. It was already dusk when I arrived. The darkening horizon accentuated the majestic central pillar of the overgrown structure as it cast weirdly undulating shadows in the distance. And before long, the last bit of sunlight faded, giving way to a clear, starlit vault.
As I have enunciated before, during the preceding weeks the night sky was dyed in alien lavender hues. But on this particular night, in the small hours, I observed the purple tint vanish from the stars little by little until, at last, all was devoid of colour again. The moon rose in bright opalescence illuminating the lucid brickwork of the ancient remains of the Ayleid tomb in a display of magical beauty. I was awestruck at the bloom of the scenery so I stopped for a moment, a few meters short of the ruins' premises and soaked it all in with deep breaths and wide eyes.
Something spectacular manifested itself right that instant. Myriads of tiny, glistening, wisp-like lights began to materialize themselves around the column in a joyous dance, swirling and twirling around it in an upwards spiral emitting a pale radiance that enveloped the area. As if these things were animate, they danced and shifted, flew and hovered, intertwining with one another. In their stunning waltz of ethereality they moved up. Up towards the white pillar's tip, seemingly waiting on something. And in but a heartbeat's time, I would come to know what that something was.
II
Out of nowhere, the whole landscape was swallowed by a violet luminosity, the grass swaying in a præternatural gale while the trees bent, to my astonishment, away from the ruins. No animals could be seen or heard. No birds chirping, no predatory quadrupeds roaming about, nothing. Inadvertently, I looked up into the fluorescent heavens bearing witness to a glowing stone that fell from the skies. With primordial force it crashed into the pillar, thereby completely obliterating the surrounding walls and paved paths of the structure in an unrelenting blastwave that sent me flying into the mud and dirt.
I caught myself thinking: "By the Divines, what had just happened?" I had some trouble in pushing myself up from the filthy ground again, but with both hands I eventually managed. In looking up, I beheld an even more bizarre phenomenon before I could rise to my feet properly. Out of the impact crater suddenly burst an extraneous beam of light in a colour I have severe trouble describing. I cannot, to this very day, ascertain whether or not it was radiating blue, purple or black, if it was casting light or seeping darkness. All I know is it spread the most uncanny emotions throughout my whole body as I watched this strange anomaly stretch into the obscure cosmos above.
I was still on all fours when I observed it dissipate. All that's left was a seriously damaged ruin and a luminous mound sitting at its center where there used to be sparkly wisps dancing just a moment ago. I sprang up and couldn't help but hurry towards the freshly formed hole after midnight and be the first to gaze upon this celestial messenger of untold secrets. I believed, then, that this would herald unprecedented advances in arcane science. Though had I just known what it was, I would've never come near it even slightly. For as will be apparent later, I had my fair share of improbable luck during the oncoming days.
As I approached the steaming earthly orifice, I felt a peculiar vibration in the agitated air emanating from it, hinting at copious amounts of magical energy present. The paved road, now brittle and in great disarray, proved hard to traverse after the ensuing quake threw the ground into chaos. Although my curiosity was sparked by a fascination never before felt, at the same time an unseen power tried to dissuade me, guide me away from this vilely lit place.
Notwithstanding these quirky emotions I proceeded towards the extraterrestrial entryway and beheld a thing I can only describe as wholly alien to Nirn. By shoving away large numbers of cracked and broken debris, I spied into the crater, viewing what had just manifested itself in those murky depths below. A brightly scintillating crystalline structure of prodigious size bored into the solid earth and stone, now resting among the graves of long dead Ayleids in their cold and forgotten entombments. All was filled with a faint haze of extraordinary shade with bits and pieces of the gigantic gem lying about, shrapnelled into the walls and floor upon impact.
I spotted the now caved-in entryway to the ages old mausoleum and secretly cursed myself for not bringing a tent in advance. Then however, who would've thought a stone from the heavens would destroy it so? My only way in was the gaping mound stretching about five meters to either side forming a circular crater that yawned in the darkness of the nocturnal hour. I closely inspected the edges and the surrounding array of stray stones and rigid dust in an effort to find a safe way in and out the rocky mouth.
After all, I needed at least some sort of shelter. So I took to surveying the chaos and experimented about. After a few failed attempts whereunto the soil gave way and cascaded down the darkly lit hole, almost making me plunge to my death, I finally found a downward path solid enough to tread on. I swiftly went down in anticipation and excitement, dying to know what the strange meteor truly was.
On my descent, I carefully climbed down the unorderly lying and hanging stones and finely ground parts of ancient bricks, meticulously taking note of where I'd be able to climb up again when my friends would arrive on the next day.
Upon reaching the foul smelling base, without a doubt stemming from eras old decay and foetor within these halls, I was very fastidious not to touch the vitreous thing from the stars. I concluded it's best to get some first looks and early assessments before my associates would arrive and we'd work on the curious object then. Too often did I break something on accident before the others appeared so I kept my hands to myself this time. And in retrospect, I did good in not touching it.
I stood right next to it when I felt something I can only hardly put into words. Something that may have averted less inquisitive folk than myself. Even now I can only scarcely describe it. It was as if a strange vibrational energy, almost musical, entered my bloodstream and made my blood boil in rebellion against whatever it was being so close to me. To my dismay I misinterpreted this warning as a sign of pure energy, even if in great quantity.
Immediately, I produced from my pouch ink, quill and a few sheets of blank paper I've grown accustomed to always have at hand. I started noting down my first observations. The first thing I noticed apart from its inherent luminescence was its sheer size. It was about five meters wide and seven meters high and quite humongous when one stood before it. The obelisk was of hexagonal shape, stretching to a cone upwards, like a teardrop with corners, essentially.
The six sides and the general surface seemed to be finely cut like one would do with precious gems or baubles, giving it a slightly artificial quality. Furthermore, the monolith's surface looked as if polished so that I could observe my likeness being mirrored in its pristinely glassen grandeur. Inspecting it more closely, I witnessed the giant prismatic structure pulsate slightly every few seconds. I asked myself how grand the power contained within must be to move a solid thing in this manner. By squinting my eyes to stare directly into it, I saw a dark spot in its center that is blotted out by its radiance when observed from afar.
I took notes and wrote down these preliminary findings and proceeded to survey my immediate surroundings. A heap of stray, glowing crystals lay about the floor in this burial chamber I so clumsily crept inside of, illuminating the entire room. I found myself among tombs of long dead merish ancestry, amidst were scattered these strangely lit shards. I restrained myself from touching them, though I found it very enticing. They could just go in my pocket and I could study them when we get home. But no, I was intent on waiting for my kindred spirits to arrive the next day. To my fortune, not every wall has caved in after the ruin being hit and so I peeked at an exit hallway leading deeper into the tenebrous halls below.
Now, I didn't intend on venturing out into the mist-covered, foul, murky depths too far. Just enough so that I could find a sufficient amount of ragged cloth, linen wraps and discarded fibers by bygone adventurers that I could fashion into some poor form of a makeshift bedroll. And indeed, after striding through about two corridors and three smaller chambers without incident, I found just enough fabric to lay out on the floor near the crater. I laid down and was able to bed myself relatively softly on the dilapidated stone floor next to the brooding crystal under the opening I came in from.
I remember the damp, malodorous quality of my bedsheets clear as a crisp spring morning. It troubled my sleep greatly with its olfactory assault. In due time, my eyes grew too heavy for even the most pungent of odors and so, I started dozing off into a dreamless sleep. I was completely oblivious, then, as to what kind of danger I put myself in that night. Just to make sure, I partly opened my eye once more to scan the room for irregularities before all went black and in my almost fatal ignorance, I rested.
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