King-Fall

XIV. Dimitri Alterianni

"I see the light, face me; fear quivers in Boethiah's voice from the prospect of your success."

I stepped around the corner and Neloth gasped in my head. "It is Dimitri."

Dimitri was coming down on the lift from the Reeking Tower. Bits and pieces of Frostbite Spiders coming down with him. His arms were crossed as he glowered down on us and the lift finally stopped.

"Neloth sends his regards." I said into the silence of the storm soon to come.

"Neloth," he rolled the names off his tongue and chuckled before muttering something in another language. "I haven't heard that name in a long time."

"He just called me an old cuss. An annoying one at that."

"You understand him?" I muttered out of Dimitri's earshot.

"He's speaking Old Nirn. The Nirn of the 3rd era."

"Then how come Serana wasn't speaking that and she's a Daughter of Coldharbour from the 2nd Era?"

"Who are you talking to?" Dimitri asked.

"Neloth," I admitted, "he heard what you said."

"Wait... what?! She's a-?!" Neloth yelled but Dimitri chuckled. I glanced back at Serana and she pretended to check her nails while she waited for Neloth and I to shut up.

"It's a pity that I'm going to test you."

"What?" I said confused.

"The path you are taking will lead you to a place of great power, one that could free me from Boethiah and I will be mortal again. If you can defeat my beasts, I will let you go to Apocrypha through the Mirror Door."

"But-"

With a dismissive wave of his hand he summoned three red-skinned and Daedric armored men and they brandished their weapons on us.

"Divines," Neloth exclaimed, "three Dremora?!"

"Serana?" I called.

"I see them!" She launched an ice spike and it impaled a Dremora but all it did was stumble and keep coming.

That's not good.

One prepared to blast me with a lightning spell and it wasn't until it hit me and I went flying that I realized it was chain lightning. Serana dived as the bolt struck through my shoulder and landed at where she was once standing. They can cast spells? How come I've never seen these things before? I got up, a painful hole in my shoulder and a Dremora leapt towards me.

Just a little hyper-aggressive, I thought, just a little. Weakened, I just tried to keep my sword level and when he landed I ducked under his swing. When I left my sword in him he fell down and probably for the third or more time in last few days I've been separated from my sword. Drawing a Dawnbreaker with my left arm I battled the other Dremora who used sword and shield.

It shield bashed me and attempted to stab me while I was dazed. Using all the strength I could muster I weaved away and under his sword and then he kicked me. After stumbling backwards the monstrosity charged me but an Ice Spike planted one of his legs in the earth and he face-planted into the ground. I glanced at Serana who had pinned every body part of the Dremora she was trying to kill with Ice Spikes.

My enemy swiped his sword at my feet but I stepped back and shocked him with one hand and stabbed him with the Dawnbreaker in my left hand. Having the holy weapon pierce it's heart it turned into dust.

Holy weapons, Meridia was right about needing these.

The Dremora I impaled from earlier was up, struggling frantically with the Bloodskal blade in his chest. I also saw Serana just axing her poor Dremora over and over but it refused to die even though all it's appendages were pinned with ice spikes. With a deep breath, I cast a Fast Heal spell, got a second wind and drew the other sword to decapitate my other Dremora and I walked towards Serana.