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The Dragonborn Comes: Chapter 14

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Chapter Fourteen:  It Takes Three

 

*Play:  Silent Footsteps (Skyrim OST)*

 

Calla recovered from the fall and took a look around the area she is in.  She found herself located in a passageway lined with bright, green crystals, shimmering throughout the tunnel, creating a slight glow to light the area.  She then looked around to spot if anyone in the group was nearby.

 

Sure enough, directly behind her, were Amber and James, regaining their footing from the recent incident. However, she was unable to locate the rest of her friends.

 

“Ugh…” Amber groaned painfully, “That was the dirtiest, most disrespectful trick I’ve ever encountered on an adventure.  See, this is why I didn’t want to go on this expedition, but no, I had to go because Sofia wanted me to.”

 

“Quit complaining Amber,” James replied to his sister, “Besides we have more important things to deal with first.”

 

“James is right,” Calla replied, “I can’t seem to find anyone else in our group around here, so we’ll have to travel deeper into this crypt in order to find them.”

 

“No, the first thing we have to do is get out of this creepy place and head back to the castle so that I can change into clean dress and avoid anymore of this unexpected traps in this place.”

 

“We can’t return to the castle right now,” James responded, “Besides, we’re stuck in a place we aren’t familiar with, who know how long it will take to get out of here.”

 

“James, this place is awful,” Amber replied angrily, “I just want to get out of here right now!”

 

“Amber,” Calla spoke up, “I know how much you hate this place, in fact I don’t like it either, but Sofia is counting on you to help us out with finding this prophecy inside this tomb so that we can prevent Armageddon.  We need your help.”

 

Amber calmed down and let out a sigh of defeat.

 

“You’re right Calla,” she responded, “The fate of my life, and our lives depend on us finding this key to defeating that evil dragon Alduin.”

 

“Good,” Calla said, “Glad we could straight that conflict out, now let’s take our lead through this tunnel ahead of us, it seems to be our only exit out of here.”

 

“I can barely see,” James said.

 

“Ugh, me too,” Amber agreed, “Calla, do you have something that can help us see through this place clearly?”

 

“I do in fact,” Calla answered, “Just watch.”

 

Suddenly, Calla unsheathed her greatsword and then, the weapon began to glow a bright green, similar to the luminescence produced by the crystals surrounding the tunnel walls.  The twins’ eyes lit up with excitement upon witness this extraordinary event.

 

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Calla spoke up from the silence.

 

Amber shook her head off from the experience before her, “Amazing?  This would be more like…Magnificent!”

 

“I second that answer,” James agreed.

 

“Where did you acquire such a weapon?” Amber asked astonishingly.

 

“Well, I tell you all about it soon,” Calla replied, “But right now, we need to take this path along this tunnel, that way we can reunite with our friends.”

 

Amber and James nodded and the three of them proceed through the brilliant, yet mysterious passageway ahead of them, wondering what amazing sights lied ahead of them.

 

*Play: Glacial Colosseum (Soul Calibur IV OST)*

 

The crystals lining the walls became more numerous as the group traveled further through Iizgosvern.  Amber found this occurrence seemingly intriguing, as these may in fact be valuable gems, possibly emeralds.  But what she was most interested in finding out was the backstory of Calla’s greatsword.  After waiting for sometime, she decided to take up the courage and ask Calla about the weapon.

 

“So Calla,” Amber said, catching the former princess’s attention, “What exactly is the story behind your sword?”

 

“My sword?”  Calla stated, “I supposed now’s the right time to talk about it, very well.  My sword is called Life Bringer; it gets its name because it exerts nature, life, and healing powers, better known as Naturakinesis, and it uses these powers to make moral decisions to major conflicts and destroy any evil intending to conquer or destroy this world.”

 

“Huh, that’s interesting,” James replied.

 

“Oh, but it gets even better,” Calla continued, “Life Bringer is actually a living weapon.  It contains the spirit of a powerful goddess that only reveals its true identity on very few occasions.”

 

“And when exactly will this spirit reveal itself?” Amber asked.

 

“Only in the most disastrous situations,” Calla answered the princess.

 

“Wow,” Amber said under her breath.

 

“Hey, I think I see something up ahead,” James said, ending the conversation amongst the group.

 

Calla turned her attention towards the path in front of her and spotted what James was talking about, it was a giant, open room with waterfalls, small canals, and bridges lining the surroundings, even though the area was still covered in walls of ice.  An opening with an ebony sarcophagus lied in front of the group.  There was also a raised bridge behind the sarcophagus seeming to be the only way across the one wide canal it was meant to assist in crossing.

 

Calla then examined the area in front of her further and spotted several pressure plates located around the outline of the sarcophagus.

 

“Hey, may those loose rocks are switches to activate the bridge so that it can be lowered,” Amber spoke up amongst the silence, “Why don’t I go activate them so that we can continue on through this place,” she finished before walking over to activate one of the plates.

 

“No Amber I wouldn’t do-” Calla tried to warn Amber.

 

But it was too late, Amber stood right on top of the plate directly ahead of her and the outcome she expected to occur failed to appear.  Instead, the sarcophagus in front of her burst open and a large, broad cadaver, wearing armor matching the material of the sarcophagus, got up out of the ebony tomb.  Noticing the presence of Amber, it drew its weapon, a large ebony greatsword and charge at the young princess, preparing to hack at her.

 

Amber screamed at the top of her lungs at the horrific sight in front of her.

 

*Play:  Heat to Beat (Resident Evil 6 OST)*

 

“Amber, it was a trap!” James yelled at his twin sister.

 

Amber stood motionless, fear overwhelming her body.  The draugr continued to approach the girl, ready to bludgeon her until she was dead.

 

Seeing that Amber what’s at death’s door, Calla had to take drastic measures.  She charged in and attacked the draugr with quick slash of her sword, knocking the reanimated corpse to the ground.  This distraction managed to allow Amber to make a getaway from the draugr.

 

The corpse then began to regain its footing and prepared to attack Calla with a sweep at her feet.  Calla dodged the attempt and then countered the attack with a drop kick to the draugr’s face, piercing the cadaver’s eyes.

 

But that attack was not enough to defeat the corpse, so Calla spot an idea out of the corner of her eyes and got an idea, she then ran back to Amber and James and spoke to them about the certain situation.

 

“Guys I have a plan,” Calla told the twins, “I’ll fly over to the nearby island and find the switch to activate the bridge’s mechanism so that it can lower.  I need you two in the meantime to distract the undead corpse long enough so that I can activate the switch when I find it.”

 

“Sounds like it may work,” James replied.

 

“It’s risky, but I’ll try to keep myself out of harm’s way,” Amber seconded that response.

 

Calla then turned back and ran for the canal, she then jumped and used her wings to fly over the wide ravine until she reached the other side.  Distracted by this action, the attacking draugr attempted to attack her but failed in doing so and just watched as she reached the other island.  Amber took the opportunity and walk up to the draugr and began to speak.

 

“Hey, you filthy, skeletal creep,” Amber shouted at the undead cadaver, catching its attention, “ Do you want to harm me, well then let’s see what you got!”

 

Intimidated by the taunt, the draugr held its position and prepared to unleash a shout.

 

“FUS RO DAH!” he shouted at the princess.

 

The force of the shout’s power managed to cause Amber to lose her balance and fall, but she was able to recover from the attack right away.

 

“Is that all you got?” she said sarcastically.

 

The draugr was now furious, he charged at the princess and prepared to finish her off with a powerful blow.  But seeing this, Amber managed to jump out of the way of the attack and catch the draugr off guard.  James then barged in and pushed the draugr, causing it to stumble in the direction of the canal.  Just when then the draugr was about to fall into the water below, it quickly stopped and began trying to maintain its footing at the ledge.  Seeing the opportunity to finish the draugr off once and for all, the twins looked at each other, smirked, and then charged at the undead creature at full speed and pushed the cadaver down into the deep canal below.  They watched as the current swept the draugr away until it was gone from sight.  Amber then turned to her twin brother.

 

“Good work James,” she praised him.

 

“You too Amber,” he returned the complement.

 

Meanwhile, Calla was running through a labyrinth of bridges, slopes, and traps, one of which nearly knocked her into the ravine below.  Eventually, she came to an open balcony where she found a lever.

 

 “This maybe the mechanism that could lower the bridge,” Calla thought, “It’s worth a try.”

 

She then pulled the lever down.  A moment later, the bridge where the twins were located lowered with a thud, proving Calla’s theory was right.

 

“I got the bridge down now,” Calla called out to Amber and James, “You two can cross now, I don’t see any of the-”

 

Suddenly, two thuds originating directly to the left and right side of her.  When Calla examined the spots, she found that the sounds emitted from two sarcophagi Calla briefly spotted before reaching the lever.  From them, two draugr like the one she had encountered just a moment earlier, only these ones weren’t wearing the same armor as the previous one, but rather a lighter variant.

 

The two draugr charged at the former princess and unsheathed their weapons:  one with an ancient battleaxe, and the other with an ancient bow and arrows.

 

Calla decided to go for the one with the bow first so that it wouldn’t be a distraction while battling the other.  The draugr drew back is bow in an attempt to attack her, but when it fired, Calla dodged the projectile by ducking. She then attacked the undead corpse with a powerful upwards slash, sending it flying before returning back to the ground. 

 

When the draugr was recovering, the other attempted to bludgeon Calla with a violent pound with its axe.  Calla managed to notice this just in time and evaded the attack by ducking and crawling behind the draugr.  While the draugr was distracted by the failed attack, Calla bashed him hard with a backhand to its head, sending it flying towards the upright sarcophagus the cadaver with the bow exited from and collided with it.  The draugr then fell onto the other and the two watched as the sarcophagus fell onto the two undead corpses, crushing them.

 

With that problem finally settled, Amber and James joined up with Calla once more.

 

“Great work you two,” Calla praised the twins.

 

“It wasn’t much of a problem actually,” Amber replied.

 

Calla turned her head and noticed a hall leading out of the open area.

 

“Now let’s head towards that passageway and continued searching for everyone else,” she instructed the twins.

 

The two of them nodded and all three left the area and continued treading through the tomb. 

 

*Play:  Beneath the Ice (Skyrim OST)*

 

While traveling through the hall, Amber tripped over a wire and activated another trap, this one being a large battering ram falling from the ceiling.

 

“Watch out!”  she warned the others.

 

All three of them quickly ducked in time before the trap managed to succeed in injuring them.  Once the battering ram raised back up to the ceiling once more, the three of them continued even further.

 

Eventually, they came across another obstacle, this one in the form of a whole floor of pressure plates.

 

“Another puzzle,” Calla said, “We’ll have to solve the solution we one to proceed onwards in finding our friends and the prophecy.”

 

Calla took a step carefully onto the pressure plate in front of her; the result didn’t yield trap or hazard.

 

“Alright this one’s safe,” she said to Amber and James, “Now let’s try to find the path that can lead us to the other side without any incidents.”

 

Amber took that message, as a sign of finding which tiles weren’t hazards, aware of the mistakes she made beforehand.  She decided to try the tile ahead of the one Calla step on, but when she activated the pressure plate, a sudden blast of fire ignited.

 

“YEAAH!” She shrieked, startled by the sudden result.

 

She then retreated back to Calla, having no second thoughts of stepping on that tile again.

 

“I guess that plate’s out of the question,” Calla said.

 

James then noticed that the tiles each had a mosaic printed on them, with the one that Calla was standing on having a white four-pointed star shape on it.  He then glanced at the tile Amber was standing on and notice it had a pattern shaped like a black X. Noticing that the rest of the surrounding tiles had only these two patterns, James figured out how to solve the puzzle of tiles.

 

“Calla, I think I figured out the solution to the puzzle,” he called out to the former princess, catching her attention.

 

“What have you discovered?” she asked him.

 

“We need to step on the tiles that are shaped like white stars in order to reach the other side,” he told her, “And avoid the black X’s.”

 

Calla look down at the pressure plate she was standing on and noticed the white star pattern printed on it, she then spotted another tile with the matching pattern and stepped on that one, and as James had stated, no flame ignited.

 

“Good eyes James,” she told the prince.

 

“Indeed, good work brother,” Amber praised him.

 

Calla continued forward, following a trail of the correct pattern printed amongst the tiles.  James followed behind her, and Amber decided to follow her twin brother in order to avoid danger once more.  Soon enough, the three of them reached the other side without activate another trap.

 

“We made it,” Calla stated, “Now lets head through that tunnel over there and find what we came here for.”

 

“Lead the way,” Amber told her.

 

And with that said, the group continued further in Iizgosvern.

 

The tunnel lead them to an octagonal room containing eight sarcophagi:  seven standing upright in all of the corners except the entrance, and one laying in the center of the room.  Seeing these and nothing else, the three knew they were in for a battle soon, and sure enough, there thoughts came true.  A gate blocked off the entrance they came from, and then, one of the ancient coffins burst open, revealing a wraith-like entity they hadn’t encountered before.

 

The group braced themselves for the battle.  Little did they know about the entity’s power…

 

Now let's leave Anna and Elsa's POV and see what's up with Calla, Amber, and James.  Of the three POVs, this one is my favorite, and I've worked the hardest on this one as well, you'll see why soon enough, and it's really going to surprise you ;).  [Positive] feedback is always appreciated by you readers.

The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim (c) Bethesda Softworks
Frozen and Sofia the First (c) Walt Disney
Soul Calibur IV (c) Namco/Bandai
Resident Evil 6 (c) Capcom
Calla (c) Me respectively ;)
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