A Memory He Wished He Could Forget

(Lakeview Manor)

Asenridr wakes up and heads to his armour stand to grab his ebony stuff, he takes out the ebony mail and stares at it "I guess I should also grab Spell Breaker and Dawnbreaker as insurance for my fight against Harkon" he grabs the sword, mail and shield and grabs his trusty bow Zephyr, he then hears movement in the guest room, he chuckles and heads downstairs and grabs some vegetables and fruit and makes himself a salad, he grabs a potion of blood for Serena and sits down at the dining table, Serena walks into the room, Asenridr smiles "Morning, grab a seat" he tosses her the blood potion she catches it with a surprised look "How did you-" he cuts her off "I know my friends well but I know my enemies better" she smiles "Thanks" she drinks the potion while Asenridr finishes up his salad. He then gets out his chair and heads for the door "Right, let's not waste anymore time" Serena nods and follows him outside, putting her hood up in the process.

(Outside Lakeview Manor)

Serena marvels at the scenery while following Asenridr through it, she catches up to him and pokes him "So, what's with changing our destination" he chuckles "I owe Baulgruff a great deal, plus he wouldn't ask for my help, if it wasn't serious" she nods "True enough, but still odd of you, you don't seem like the typical white knight". He laughs "That's because I'm not, I'm not focused on the little things like civil disputes and the like, I'm more focused on the real threats like Vampires, Dragons, Lich's you name it. Plus everyone thinks I'm an invincible wall while those who know me, know the truth, I'm not a stoic person, I've had moments of self doubt and failures but I keep going" Serena smiles "Good thing, Skyrim has you as it's guardian" he nods and the two continue on to Whiterun.

(Whiterun, DragonsReach)

Asenridr walks in and heads straight to Baulgruff who smiles upon seeing him "Asenridr, good to see again my friend, I'm glad you could come on short notice" he nods "I just got your message yesterday, so what's up" Baulgruff beckons him upstairs to the strategy table "It's my son, Nelkeir, he's always been a quiet lad but lately he's been more outgoing and aggressive, I don't know what I've done to upset him, if you could speak to him and find out I would greatly appreciate it" Asenridr nods "Sure, I'll look into it" he goes downstairs and finds Nelkeir in the right hand corner, "So what's up with you Nelkeir" Nelkeir stares at him "Hm, so my father has you talking to me, guess I should have expected it but it doesn't matter I know more about him than he knows about me" Asenridr feels uneasy "How do you know more about him than yourself" Nelkeir smiles "The Whispering Lady tells me, there's an old door in the basement, I remember listening near it and hearing her, she told my many secrets, I bet she'll talk to you to" Asenridr thanks Nelkeir and heads to the basement while Serena stays upstairs to keep watch on Nelkeir.

(DragonsReach, Basement)

Asenridr walks into the basement and finds the door, he opens it and sees an old weathered door in a crawl space, he walks up to it and places his ear to the door, "Hello again, Lover~" he falls backward upon hearing the voice "Not you again...Mephala, what do you want this time" she laughs and he sees a faint outline of her kneeling next to him "Simple, I want you to free the part of my power that's locked behind this door" Asenridr chuckles "And why would I do that" Mephala smiles and grabs his throat, he growls lowly "Because if you don't then I might give Nelkeir a secret that he won't be able to keep and might end up dethroning his father" Asenridr sighs "Fine, fine, I'll do it, just leave them out of it" she smiles and let's go of his throat "There you go, was that so hard~" he sighs and walks back upstairs and beckons Serena over, she looks at him cautiously "Well, hear anything" he nods "Yeah, turns out the Whispering Lady is Mephala and unless I free her artefact from a old warded door, she'll destroy Baulgruff's reputation" Serena frowns "Right, well Nelkeir just said to me that there's a key to open the door held by Farengar and Baulgruff" Asenridr nods "Let's try Farengar" he heads to Farengar's study and finds the key laying on his desk, he sneakily takes it and heads back down into the basement.

(Basement)

He uses the key and opens the door to reveal the ebony blade, he walks up to it slowly and reads the journal next to it, the door then shuts. He sighs "Ok, what are you up to now" he hears her giggle "It should be obvious, I want you to take my blade and use it" he laughs "Not happening" he feels himself float and is thrown into the wall and pinned against it by Mephala who has a dark smile on her face "Then you don't leave this this room, and who knows I might just get impatient~", her hand goes lower, he sighs "Alright, alright, I'll take your damn blade just get off me" she smirks and disappears letting him fall to the floor, the door opens back up, he grabs the blade and walks out of the room, he and Serena then leave and head for the glade.

(Ancestor Glade)

The two walk up the path and deal with a sabre cat and some wolves before making it to the glade, the two head inside.

(Main chamber)

The two walk and are greeted by flocks of moths flying around the place, Asenridr notices the tree and uses the draw knife to gather some bark before walking off to grab the moth's attention. After a while he manages to get all of them, Serena laughs "Looks like that bark really works" Asenridr chuckles "Guess so", he walks into the middle of the room and opens up the scroll, he then sees a vision of a map with a red x in the north eastern side, he then notices the name of the place, "DarkFall Cave" he comes out of his trance and shakes his head to clear his vision. Just then a few vampires show up and after a brief fight they kill them, Serena sighs "So, do we have a location" he nods "DarkFall Cave, but it's all the way in the north west in the reach" the two sigh and walk out of the glade and head to DarkFall but eventually decide to make camp at a bandit encampment Asenridr cleared out a few weeks back.

(Bandit Encampment)

The two make themselves comfy in separate rooms, Asenridr crawls in the bed and falls asleep almost immediately.

(Dream)

Asenridr wakes up and immediately knows something's wrong, he's blindfolded and he can't move, he hears heel clacking approaching from the front followed by a dark laugh "Morning honey~" he gasps and shudders as he feels Mephala grope his body, quickly realising that he's either shirtless or naked due to feeling it on his skin. "S-stop...it!" he hears her laugh again and feels her nails dig into his flesh, "No!...you are mine, and there's nothing you or your allies can do about that~" Asenridr growls "Why me then, what's so special about me" Mephala giggles "Oh, I don't know maybe because you were born on my summoning day or perhaps because your mother offered your soul to me in exchange for power. Or even better because you've grown from a terrified boy to a powerful and handsome man, who's also the Dragonborn, what more could a woman ask for~". Asenridr doesn't say anything for a moment before growling "What did you offer my mother" Mephala chuckles "I offered her the prospect of eternal life and the other usual deals in exchange she gives me ownership of your soul...she never worshipped Dibela it was only me, in fact she used to be a member of my Morag Tong (she is half Nord, half Dunmer, she is a Dunmer but she was born to a Dunmer mother and Nord father). But don't worry you'll see her and your father again provided you don't go to Sovngarde that is~" Asenridr growls "You bit-" he is cut off by Mephala kissing him, she forces him down and wraps her arm around his neck, "It's taking everything I have not to take you right now but I want that to be special so I've planned it out~" he struggles in her grip but she just giggles "You aren't going anywhere~. Especially not back to that vampire whore of yours" he struggles harder but again doesn't get anywhere "Leave my friends out of this!" He feels something smack him round the head which wakes he up.

(Dream End)

(Bedroom)

Asenridr wakes up, with sweat dripping down his face, he sits there for a minute before getting up and checking his sky chart "7th of Frostfall" he gets up and grabs his gear before going to find Serena.

(Main room)

He walks into the dining area and finds Serena, the two grab their stuff and eat a small meal before heading for DarkFall Cave.

(Near DarkFall Cave)

Serena pulls Asenridr aside "You have a minute" he nods "Yeah, what's up" she looks at him with a worried look "Do you know what the process for becoming a daughter of Coldharbour is" he looks at her and solemnly nods "Yes, not much different to what Mephala nearly did to me, only difference is she's less merciful". Serena looks at him confused "What do you mean" he breathes deeply before responding "Bal, makes it clear he wants you to suffer, he goes out of his way to do so but Mephala...she waits, she gets under your skin, she pokes and probes you until you slip up and trust her then she reveals her true colours. She's a master manipulator, one of them most dangerous princes you can deal with". Serena nods "I see, but what actually lead to her becoming intent on grabbing you" Asenridr shrugs his shoulders "Fuck if I know, she won't tell me but apparently my mother sold my soul to her and I was born on her summoning day so I suppose it's some sort of dadera deal thing" the two end their conversation there and continue on to Dark Fall Cave.

(DarkFall Cave)

The two head through the cave until they come upon an elf with snow like skin, Asenridr gasps "You have got to be kidding...a living snow elf" the elf takes notice of their arrival. After a long chat with the elf known as Knight-Paladin Gelibor and finding out about the origin of the Falmar and the corrupting of Gelibors brother as well as the way shrines which allow one entry into the forgotten vale, the two then head through a portal in the way shrine to the forgotten cave.

(The forgotten Cave)

The walk into the cave and are marvelled by the unique creatures until they are swarmed by Charus and Falmer, the kill them and spot the next wayshrine, after filling the ewer they head into the next portal that leads to the Forgotten Vale.