Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter CIII - Here and There

The concoction tasted rather... funny.

It was odd. In a way like nothing they had tasted before but at the same time strangely familiar. Like a dream one couldn't quite recall properly. It was probably fitting.

Its effects started instantly though. The world around them began to swirl and cover with strange haziness. The colors seemed more vivid, but everything was much more blurry than before.

"Is it working? How do you feel?" The Dunmer's raspy voice came as if from a large distance, but it still echoed in their ears.

"I think it's working," Aeyrin answered uncertainly. "Can you hear me? Can you still see me?"

"Yes, of course," the man let out a soft chuckle. "You are still here as well after all. I can see you. But more importantly, can you enter the barrier now?"

Aeyrin looked at the nearby doorway with trepidation. The barrier seemed so much more vivid now. It was still there. She kind of hoped that it would disappear. But hopefully that wasn't actually an issue. She stepped forth, towards the barrier, and she tentatively touched it, pressing her hand against it.

It went right through. As if nothing was there. Good. That was a good sign, hopefully.

She stepped inside and Bishop followed suit instantly. They could see further ahead now, there were bodies there on the ground, but it was too hard to tell who they were from where they were standing.

The two of them continued forward together, towards the bodies. There weren't any side rooms in the hallway so their destination was clear for now.

"So... what do you think will happen if the potion stops working and we're still here. Inside this thing?" Bishop scowled. He hadn't thought about that until just now and it instantly made him wary. They had no idea what that magical field would do to anyone who was only there in the real world.

"Oh..." Aeyrin stopped in her tracks in realization. She hadn't thought about that either. "I... I don't know." It was a bit pointless to say that – how could she know?

"Well, we better fucking hurry then," Bishop growled. Erandur said that it would keep them in this state for at least six hours. It was plenty of time to get through this fort by the looks of the exterior, but they could never be sure, especially when they didn't know what they would be facing here.

They continued onwards until they could see the bodies. A few people dressed in violet robes, likely the cultists of Vaermina, and two Orcs. All of them dead. They looked just like Erandur had – blurry and hazy. But then again, everything looked like that.

"Look! Something's happening," Bishop stopped Aeyrin from going forward and pointed ahead. A strange light was swirling there, right by those corpses.

The light looked harmless for a second, but soon, it started to form figures right in front of their eyes. It didn't take long before those exact same Orcs and cultists appeared and began to battle each other viciously. They didn't look exactly like those bodies though – they weren't blurry, they looked as clear as anything in the real world had before they drank that potion.

"Huh, I guess these are those memories of the battle," Aeyrin noted. But just as her voice rang through the hallway, the apparitions stopped their fight and focused their attention on her.

"Uhh... I don't think they're just gonna be recreating memories," Bishop murmured as he reached for his sword. It was clear enough, those figures snarled and brandished their weapons, ready to take on the unexpected intruders.

Aeyrin unclasped her mace promptly. The figures were already rushing against them, ready for battle.

Just as the first Orc reached them, Bishop lunged forward and thrusted his sword into the man's exposed stomach. Idiot, he wasn't even wearing any proper armor to cover himself, letting his bulging muscles all exposed.